More than seven decades after their adoption, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 remain foundational to contemporary international humanitarian law (IHL). Efforts to update their Commentaries testify to both the resilience of the Geneva Conventions and their enduring relevance in modern armed conflicts. Yet the story of their making is inseparable from the ... Show More
Yesterday
Deciding under algorithms: artificial intelligence and the protection of civilian infrastructure in armed conflict
Artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision-support systems are increasingly embedded upstream of the use of force, shaping how military actors plan attacks, assessing effects, and anticipating harm. In contemporary urban warfare, where civilian infrastructure forms complex and d ... Show More
15m 13s
Mar 5
Engaging non-state armed groups on the protection of missing people and their families
The ICRC continues to witness unacceptable levels of suffering when the law designed to protect families, prevent people from going missing, and ensure the dignified and respectful treatment of the dead is disregarded. At the same time, we have also documented countless, daily ef ... Show More
14m 27s
Feb 24
Islamic law and the right to life in armed conflict
Islamic legal traditions and the modern framework of international humanitarian law (IHL) emerged from different contexts and traditions, but they share many underlying values – such as restraint, humanity, and the protection of those not (or no longer) participating in hostiliti ... Show More
16m 18s
Apr 2025
CBS Evening News, 04/16/25
President Trump authorized turning a 700-mile stretch of federal land, from New Mexico to California, into a military installation to allow troops to detain migrants crossing the southern border. At the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, researchers are testing how ... Show More
23m 28s
Feb 2025
Mirca Madianou, "Technocolonialism: When Technology for Good is Harmful" (Polity, 2024)
With over 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and with emergencies and climate disasters becoming more common, AI and big data are being championed as forces for good and as solutions to the complex challenges of the aid sector.
Technocolonialism: When Technolo ... Show More
1h 2m
Feb 2025
UN's humanitarian chief on international need, and Syria's mines threat
The leading UN humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, says the body is overstretched and underfunded when it comes to supporting the roughly 300 million people in need around the world. Mines left over from more than a decade of armed conflict in Syria are threatening civilians try ... Show More
6m 44s
Aug 2025
Building a Unified Army in a Fractured Syria
In this episode of MEnbar, Marc Owen Jones speaks with Haid Haid, non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, about efforts to unify Syria’s fragmented armed factions into a national defense force. Haid examines the realities of paramilitary groups su ... Show More
47m 39s
Oct 2025
Shadowing the storm: Is Britain being dragged into war?
With Ukraine highlighting the use of UK hardware in strikes against Russia and the US insisting British military personnel join a team monitoring the Gaza ceasefire, are we at risk of ending up in a wider conflict?The possibility, however slim, that UK soldiers could be engaged i ... Show More
19m 50s