Världens farligaste mobilapplikation? – En undersökning av den internationella humanitära rättens regelverk om direkt deltagande i fientligheterna när civila delar militär information genom en mobilapplikation

Sammanfattning: The aim of the essay is to investigate whether a civilian sharing military intelligence through a smartphone application during an ongoing international armed conflict risks to lose their civilian protection. The essay primarily concentrates on the notion of direct participation, as can be found in article 51(3) in Protocols Additional I to the Geneva Conventions. The paper will also examine what main issues and potential solutions assessed from a critical humanitarian theory. The legal dogmatic method with an international perspective will be used to answer the aim of the paper. The essay notes that there is a considerable amount of ambiguity how the notion of direct participation should be interpretated since neither the treaty nor customary law provides a clear definition. Due to this the essay has largely been based on judicial decisions and legal doctrine. The study finds, de lege lata, that a civilian sharing military intelligence through a smartphone application stand a risk of losing its civilian protection, and hence turning themselves into a legitimate military target. Furthermore, viewed from a critical humanitarian theory, the study finds that the current IHL is not adequately equipped to sufficiently acknowledge the humanitarian considerations regarding cyber operations extraordinary characteristics. Therefore, the essay proposes, de lege ferenda, a new IHL treaty that includes a humanitarian proportionally assessment, or as an alternative, an extension of the current Martens Clause.