With a total of 196 state parties, there are no other international treaties as widely ratified as the four 1949 Geneva Conventions on the Laws of War. But these important treaties are showing their age. The rules and principles they established for the conduct of war were created before the advent of the computer, space flight, the internet, artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons and other modern technologies that have transformed the ways in which contemporary wars are fought.
On the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, Michael Scharf, who had served as Co-Dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Law from 2013-2024, convened a ground-breaking meeting of thirty leading experts on the Laws of War to consider whether there is a need to strengthen these laws to address the challenges of 21st century warfare, and how that could best be accomplished. The experts participated in a day-long meeting at CWRU School of Law on Sept. 26, and three follow-up meetings over Zoom on Oct. 31, Nov. 7 and Nov. 14.
After substantial debate, the experts reached consensus on a white paper, which is available here. The first part of the report identifies selected areas that the participating experts concluded potentially warrant clarification, new rules or interpretations of existing rules found in the Geneva Conventions. The second part examines the pros and cons of the different approaches to pursuing these updates.
“This White Paper is intended as a call to action and roadmap for evolving the Laws of War to respond to the challenges of 21st century warfare,” says Scharf. “In light of the caliber of the participating experts, we believe this initiative will help catalyze a movement to update this vital area of law.”