The Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies (JIHLS) has published a special issue on the use of biometrics by armed forces. The editorial introduction and the three articles that constitute the special issue stem from the conference on biometrics that was organized on 7-8 May 2024 by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE), the War Studies Research Center (WSRC) of the Netherlands Defense Academy and the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL). As a result of the collaboration of the CCDCOE, WSRC, and ACIL the articles of the special issue are available for all through open access.
The special issue stands as a testament to the high quality of the contributions that constituted the conference. Each of the papers had to pass a rigorous peer-reviewing process before publication at JIHLS.
The three papers at the heart of the special issue approach the topic of biometrics use from a variety of different perspectives:
The first article titled “Biometrics to Necrometrics: What the Dead Can Tell us About War” by Lily Hamourtziadou and Welmoet Wels discusses the use of ‘necrometrics’, which is the utilization of biometrics on deceased individuals. The authors highlight that under international humanitarian law, there is a duty to both identify the dead as well as investigate potential violations of international law, for which ‘necrometrics’ may provide crucial information. Moreover, the authors emphasize that the use of biometrics on the deceased can provide important information on the human aspect and cost of the conflict by not only providing a means of identification, but insights as to where the individuals lived, their nutrition, and how they died.
The second article titled “The Use of the Lavender” in Gaza and the Law of Targeting: AI-Decision Support Systems and Facial Recognition Technology” by Emelie Andersin focuses on the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) in combination with Artificial Intelligence enabled decision support systems (AI DSS) during an armed conflict. In order to illustrate the challenges associated with the lawful use of such technologies, her article utilizes the reported use of the ‘Lavender’ AI DSS by Israel in Gaza as a case study. Furthermore, she discusses how the use of FRT and AI DSS may (or may not) remain compliant with international humanitarian law , especially in the context of the law of targeting, the principle of distinction, and proportionality.
The third article titled “The Military Fantasy of Biometrics” by Anna Greipl focuses on the impact that the use of biometrics by armed forces may have on disabled persons during the conduct of hostilities. In particular, she challenges the ableist notions that underlie many biometric systems that are based on a baseline understanding of ‘normality’, which may result in unexpected outcomes when applied to disabled individuals. To this end, she discusses the application of key IHL principles to this issue and how those risks associated with the military use of biometrics in regard to disabled persons could be mitigated.
The conference held in CR14 in Tallinn, brought together around 50 practitioners from around the world to discuss the challenges and impacts related to the use of biometric technologies by armed forces. A report on the discussions at the conference is available at the CCDCOE library.