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 lawof armed conflict, the Geneva Convention and its Protocols, indealing with the menace of cyber warfare. The research finds thatthe law is ill prepared to deal with the contemporary means andmethods of warfare. The author debunks assumptions consistentlymade in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) that the old lawscan be stretched to cub these new technologies while pointing outvarious areas that need reconsideration in the wake of thedevelopment of cyber warfare. Most notably, this researchsuggests that time has come that the pressing need, to negotiate abinding instrument, to govern cyber warfare ought to beaddressed. Greater certainty is advocated for herein, on thissubject matter. The international legal regime is lagging behind theproblems presented by the increasingly sophisticatedtechnological possibilities in this area, and it is time to argue lessand act more.Key words: Law of armed conflict, cyber warfare, InternationalHumanitarian Law