Customary International Humanitarian Law

Dr Michael Carrel will speak on "ICRC study on Customary International Humanitarian Law", at the Australian National University in Canberra, 5:30pm 26 February 2015.

"In 2005 the International Committee of the Red Cross published a study on Customary International Humanitarian Law (Customary IHL) that had been compiled after extensive research into national and international practice in IHL. The study identified 161 rules of Customary IHL which fill the gaps left by treaty law in both international and non-international armed conflicts. The study on customary IHL is available at the ICRC’s customary IHL database which provides rapid access to the rules of customary IHL and enables users to examine practice from around the world. However, the nature of armed conflict is continually evolving and in 2007, the ICRC joined with the British Red Cross to update the practice section of the Customary IHL study.

From 2007 – 13, Dr Michael Carrel was the inaugural team leader for the update project which was undertaken at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge; in this seminar he will talk about his experiences during those seven years."

Multinational Operations and the Law

Greetings from the Australian Launch of 'Multinational Operations and the Law' at Australian National University House in Canberra. Unfortunately the International Review of the Red Cross being launched was not available, even in electronic form. The issues of the law of international armed conflict may seem very esoteric, but this effects people's lives. As an example, the International Criminal Court has to determine what is an international armed conflict (and so they have jurisdiction), or not. Just because troops from a third country are involved, that does not make it an international conflict. I asked the expert panel if international law was adequate to cyber-warfare and they seemed to think it did. cope with Also ANU will host a conference on the "Strategic Corporal Re-visited: Challenges for combatants in twenty-first century warfare" in August 2014.

Fund for Humanitirian Software to Support Disaster Response

The Sahana Software Foundation has launched a Philippines Appeal. The foundation provides free open source disaster response software and training.   The software is used by government and non-government organizations around the world to coordinate relief operations after natural disasters. The software is in use by the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Philippines Red Cross for Typhoon Haiyan recovery operations.

The Sahana Software Foundation is non-profit organization registered in the State of California, USA. In 2010 it received the PPBI Best Practices Award for its work on Haiti Earthquake and in 2013 was named Computerworld Honors Laureate for information technology to benefit society.

Law and New Technologies In Warfare

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where Knut Doermann, head of the legal division of the International Committee of the Red Cross, military and legal experts are discussing "Australia: New technologies and warfare". Questions of the legal and ethical questions of technology in warfare are not hypothetical. Previously I worked at the Department of Defence. Now I teach ICT ethics to students, some of whom work on radar, UAV and other military systems. Yesterday I attended a seminar on revolutionary new nano-technology, which has its own ethical issues.

Dr. Doermann in his opening address drew a distinction between "drone" which are remotely controlled by a human operator and autonomous systems. I and no a lawyer, or an ethicist, but in my view there is still no such distinction. The person who launches a smart weapon is accountable for the effect it has. Before they launch the weapon they must be satisfied its effect will be legal. If the weapon fails to perform as the soldier expected, then they may share responsibly with the designer and builder.

Machines already take life and death decisions every day, in motor vehicles, medical devices and air traffic control. I warn my students that when their programming goes wrong, they may be held to account in court for their actions.

Join the ICRC and the Australian Centre for Military and Security Law for a thought-provoking panel discussion on new technologies and warfare, as we launch the latest edition of the International Review of the Red Cross.

Event Info

Where: Australian National University, Canberra, 6pm-7.30pm
When:  19.11.2013

From nanotechnology enhanced weapons to autonomous robots, advancements in technology herald the possibility of a quantum leap in how war is waged. In this timely discussion, we bring together local and international experts to put the spotlight on the potential legal, ethical and humanitarian implications of such a profound change to armed conflict as we know it.

Panelists:

Knut Doermann, head of the legal division of the ICRC
Ian Henderson, Group Captain, RAAF and director of the Military Law Centre
Hitoshi Nasu, senior lecturer, ANU College of Law and acting co-director of Australian Centre for Military and Security Law
Eve Massingham, international humanitarian law officer, the Australian Red Cross
Chaired by Helen Durham, director IHL, strategy, planning & research, the Australian Red Cross

Challenges with New Technologies In Warfare

Knut Doermann, head of the legal division of the International Committee of the Red Cross, military and legal experts will discuss "Australia: New technologies and warfare", at the Australian National University in Canberra, 19 November 2013.

Join the ICRC and the Australian Centre for Military and Security Law for a thought-provoking panel discussion on new technologies and warfare, as we launch the latest edition of the International Review of the Red Cross.

Event Info

Where: Australian National University, Canberra, 6pm-7.30pm
When:  19.11.2013

From nanotechnology enhanced weapons to autonomous robots, advancements in technology herald the possibility of a quantum leap in how war is waged. In this timely discussion, we bring together local and international experts to put the spotlight on the potential legal, ethical and humanitarian implications of such a profound change to armed conflict as we know it.

Panelists:

Knut Doermann, head of the legal division of the ICRC
Ian Henderson, Group Captain, RAAF and director of the Military Law Centre
Hitoshi Nasu, senior lecturer, ANU College of Law and acting co-director of Australian Centre for Military and Security Law
Eve Massingham, international humanitarian law officer, the Australian Red Cross
Chaired by Helen Durham, director IHL, strategy, planning & research, the Australian Red Cross

Free eBook on Disaster Management with Open Source Software

My colleagues at the Sahana Foundation have released "Sahana Eden: Essential Guide", a  free ebook about how to use the Sahana free open source disaster management software. The software was first developed for the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and subsequently around the world for disaster relief operations. A Resource Mapping System was contributed to Sahana Eden by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and is available for other organizations to use. The book is available as web pages by chapter, one web page, ePub, and PDF (104 pages).

Table of Contents

Introduction

• About this Book
• Why Sahana Eden?
• What Does Sahana Eden Do?
• Who Uses Sahana Eden?
• Technical Overview
• Planning a Deployment

Getting Started

• Installation
• Configuration
• Importing Data
• Localization

Administration

• Maintenance
• Data Export

Extending Sahana Eden

• Installing a Developer Environment
• Customization
• Building a New Module
• Further Reading

Meeting The Sahana Community

• Sahana Software Foundation
• Getting Support
• Getting Involved
• Contributing Code
• Where to Go Next

• Appendices

• Resource Model
• Mapping & GIS
• Scheduler
• Synchronization
• Web Services
• S3XML
• Glossary
• Credits

Red Cross Removed from Medicare App

Three days ago I questioned the Australian Department of Human Services use of an icon depicting a medical worker with a red cross on their uniform to promote the "Express Plus Medicare" app in the Apple iTunes store. The use of the emblem of a red cross on a white background is reserved under Australian and international law for the Red Cross organization and authorized humanitarian work (Geneva Conventions). Unauthorized use of this symbol is a crime in Australia and internationally.

I noticed today that the red cross has been removed from the icon. There are other symbols which are commonly used to indicate medical services. The obvious solution in this case would have been to change the color of the cross. But removing the cross completely is an acceptable alternative.

Unlawful Use of Red Cross Symbol by Express Plus Medicare App

The Apple iTunes store features "Express Plus Medicare" app which appears to be from the Australian Department of Human Services. However, the App is promoted using an icon depicting a medical worker with a red cross on their uniform. The use of the emblem of a red cross on a white background is reserved under Australian and international law for the Red Cross organization and authorized humanitarian work (Geneva Conventions). Unauthorized use of this symbol is a crime in Australia and internationally. It seems likely that an Australian government agency would be familiar with Australian law, so this app may be a hoax.  There are other symbols which are commonly used to indicate medical services. The obvious solution in this case would be to change the color of the cross.

Delays with National Registration and Inquiry System

Delays are being reported with the National Registration and Inquiry System due to high demand with the floods in Queensland and Victoria. The system is provided by Emergency Management Australia and the Red Cross to help people find family and friends in a disaster. The system allows for registration and search for people via web forms:

Welcome to the National Registration and Inquiry System website.

We are experiencing some delays with NRIS due to high volume. Please be patient while we work to rectify this as soon as possible.

During an emergency, letting people know that you are safe and well can bring your loved ones great peace of mind.

This service is launched during emergency situations to help people reconnect with family and friends.

To get started, choose an emergency event from the drop-down box, then continue to register yourself and family members, or search for loved ones. ...

I noticed some difficulties with the design of the web interface which might be slowing the system down:

1. Encryption of home page: The site Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) page for its home page. This may slow down response time as the page content has to be encrypted. There is no need to encrypt the home page as it contains no sensitive information. Encryption may also prevent the caching of page content. The home page should be changed from HTTPS to HTTP.
2. Encryption of Images: The Australian and Red Cross logos on the top of each page use Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS).

   img src="../../images/EMA%20Logo.jpg" alt="Attorney Generals Department"...
   img src="../../images/RedCross_PowerOfHumanity.gif" alt="Red Cross" ...
   

   As with the home page, there is no need to encrypt these images.
3. Not Selecting Emergency First: Registration and search facilities are provided separately for each emergency. Thus the user has to select which emergency (Queensland or Victoria) first and then if they want to register or search. However, the interface presents tabs for register and search prominently on the top of the screen before requesting the emergency further down. As a result it is likely many people will select register or search without having selected an emergency first and then either get no response or be presented with an error message. The interface should be changed to first ask the for the emergency and only then offer the choice of register or search.
4. Use of ViewState: Microsoft ASP.NET "View State" is used to communicate information between the on screen form and the database application.

   input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" id="__VIEWSTATE" value="/wEPDwULLTEzODc3MD ...
   

   While this can be used to create sophisticated interfaces, it does add a considerable overhead. It is not needed for simple interfaces. As an example, all of the options in the search forms (such as the names of all the countries of the world and the list of all the forms of street name), are being duplicated in the ViewState field (encoded as a base64 string). This doubles the size of the search form file. View state should be disabled for these controls.

It is likely these problems are due to the interface the general public see being a cut down version of a more complex system used internally by emergency staff. But because many more people will use the public interface it needs to be optimised for efficiency.

Volunteer flood mapping for Queensland

The MAPS mapping volunteers have posted an interesting report on their work mapping the Queensland floods:

... RCQ created a project that involved volunteers from GISCorps and MAPS. This project produced a number of documents which outlined possible scenarios, hardware and software requirements, etc. The GISCorp volunteers also focused on mapping the capacisty of RCQ Emergency Services in the pre emergency period.

During December 2010 the rain really started falling and on the 29th MAPS recieved a call for assistance. ...