On October 7, Shiri Krebs, the Director of the Centre for Law as Protection, delivered the opening keynote address at the 2024 annual conference of the Middle East Studies Forum.
Professor Krebs’ keynote focused on the role of algorithms and avatars in deepening processes of dehumanisation in war and in legitimising violence.
“This is a difficult morning. It marks a full year since the horrific violence unleashed by Hamas on men, women and children in Israel…
This day also marks a year of unprecedented and systemic violence unleashed by Israel on men, women, and children in Gaza…”
These continuous acts of violence have been at the centre of intense international debates on the proper legal terms that describe them: massacre, ethnic cleansing, genocide, war crimes, terrorism.
“I find these debates unhelpful. Does it matter to the child who was buried alive under the ruins of her home how we call her death? Will it save the child who will be slaughtered tomorrow?”
Professor Krebs reflected on the ethics of debating the legal terminology of concrete war actions, as massive, systemic, and irreversible human suffering continues to spiral. Based on her work on ‘The Legalization of Truth’, she examined how disputes about legal terms may translate into disputes about facts and denial of human suffering.
She proposed to focus, instead, on processes of dehumanisation in war – and on the military technologies that enable and contribute to dehumanisation.
“Today, I would like us to consider the deepening processes of dehumanisation that enable the continuation of this horrific violence, and the role played by advanced military technologies in this dehumanisation process and in the legitimation of violence.”
Professor Krebs presented findings from her recent publication on Drone Warfare – ‘Above the Law’ – illuminating the role played by drone technologies and AI-based targeting systems in escalating processes of dehumanisation in armed conflicts. She explored systemic dehumanising elements in drone technologies, as well as inherent limitations of predictive military technologies. The keynote further reflected on questions of humanity – what is considered ‘humane’? Who is considered ‘human’? – in current wars, as well as the disparity between drone-generated avatars and actual human beings on the ground.
Professor Krebs closed her address with a call to value each individual harmed or killed rather than reducing them to mere statistics, and to focus international efforts on ending the violence.
To listen to the full speech please click here:
https://youtu.be/nbgDDHbjFQQ
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