Efficacy of International Humanitarian Law in Addressing Cyber Warfare as a New Weapon Technology: An Analysis of the Gaps and Way Forward

Abstract

This article is tailored towards interrogating the efficacy of the law
of armed conflict, the Geneva Convention and its Protocols, in
dealing with the menace of cyber warfare. The research finds that
the law is ill prepared to deal with the contemporary means and
methods of warfare. The author debunks assumptions consistently
made in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that the old laws
can be stretched to cub these new technologies while pointing out
various areas that need reconsideration in the wake of the
development of cyber warfare. Most notably, this research
suggests that time has come that the pressing need, to negotiate a
binding instrument, to govern cyber warfare ought to be
addressed. Greater certainty is advocated for herein, on this
subject matter. The international legal regime is lagging behind the
problems presented by the increasingly sophisticated
technological possibilities in this area, and it is time to argue less
and act more.

Key words: Law of armed conflict, cyber warfare, International
Humanitarian Law