Project description:
Daryna Abbakumova, SNSF Research Fellow hosted at the Centre on Conflict, Development and
Peacebuilding and a Visiting Professor at the Department of International Law at the
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies is currently leading the
project “Cyber Operations, International Humanitarian Law, and Issues of Neutrality.”
Cyber operations pose a unique challenge in international law because of the lack of clear
legal regulation of issues related to the cyber sphere in international legal acts. The military
aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine clearly demonstrates that armed
conflicts can occur not only with the use of conventional weapons, but also with cyber
weapons.
The project is aimed at researching issues related to the application of International
Humanitarian Law (IHL) norms to cyber operations in situations of international armed
conflict. It has several goals. Firstly, the project will focus on cyber-attacks as a means of
warfare during a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine.
Secondly, issues related to the application of the law of neutrality to cyber operations will be
investigated. This will help to address the question of whether or how a neutral country can
assist parties to a conflict in the cyber sphere. Thirdly, since the Russian military invasion of
Ukraine is an international armed conflict under the IHL norms, Russian cyberattacks will be
considered from the point of view of war crimes. Such a qualification could influence the
application of the law of neutrality, as war crimes constitutes grave violations of international
law and the provisions of the UN Charter.
This research project will provide a framework for understanding and analyzing cyber
operations as a means of warfare during the international armed conflict in Ukraine and the
implications for the application of IHL, as well as application of the law of neutrality in the
context of cyber operations.
Background
This project is funded through a SNSF Postdoctoral Fellowship (Swiss equivalent of the
Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship)
Timeline: 2024-2026