Citation

Katz E. Int. Rev. Red Cross (1999) 2020; 102(914): 659-682.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, International Committee of the Red Cross, Publisher Cambridge University Press)

DOI

10.1017/S1816383121000473

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Disinformation in armed conflict may pose several distinctive forms of harm to civilians: exposure to retaliatory violence, distortion of information vital to securing human needs, and severe mental suffering. The gravity of these harms, along with the modern nature of wartime disinformation, is out of keeping with the traditional classification of disinformation in international humanitarian law (IHL) as a permissible ruse of war. A patchwork set of protections drawn from IHL, international human rights law and international criminal law may be used to limit disinformation operations during armed conflict, but numerous gaps and ambiguities undermine the force of this legal framework, calling for further scholarly attention and clarification.

Language: en

Keywords

armed conflict; disinformation; fake news; influence operations; international criminal law; international human rights law; international humanitarian law; ruse of war