Digital dilemmas annual theme | Final event

After the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, aid agencies have come to realise that communication is aid and efforts needed to be put to limit the propagation of hate through the media. MDH is since used as an umbrella acronym to define misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, a phenomenon that has surged with the impact of social media. If digital technologies have definitely reshaped the way we communicate and share information, they can also be misused intentionally or unintentionally, to spread harmful information that will destabilize, confuse or attack aid organisations, humanitarian operations, and affected populations. Recent examples include the COVID-19 pandemic, that has seen a massive wave of false and misleading information circulating on digital media, or the misinformation about the ICRC’s activities at the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

In this panel we will explore the negative sides of digital communication that can affect us as humans in the way we build knowledge and make decisions, especially in situation of crises. We will address in particular:

• What are the consequences of MDH on humanitarian actors and communities affected by conflicts, disasters, epidemics?
• What is the impact of the weaponization of information in conflict environments and other situations of violence?
• Which possible ways exist to mitigate the digital risks?

Over the last 150 years, the Red Cross, Crescent, and Crystal emblems have become universally recognized symbols of  impartial and neutral aid, and protection, for the victims of war. The emblems have ensured that people who need help have access to it, and that the people providing help are never a target. But today – armed conflicts also take place in cyberspace. How can the emblem – part of the bedrock of the law of war – continue to protect hospitals and humanitarian organizations in cyberspace? Learn more about the Digital Emblem project from the International Committee of the Red Cross!

Rapid digital development has transformed today's information landscape, enabling access to unprecedented amounts of publicly available data, or Open Source Information (OSI), that can support humanitarian actors in understanding, documenting, and responding to conflict.

In this workshop, we will look at the transformative ways that humanitarian actors use OSI today, and the tools and techniques that they employ to collect, verify and integrate this data as part of their humanitarian response. Specifically, we will examine through case studies how OSI has been used to enhance the protection of civilians in armed conflict, including through the documentation of violations of international humanitarian law. We will then discuss the implications of such technologies and their use by humanitarian actors, the increasing digitalization of conflict environments, and how open source information can be used to facilitate greater involvement by local populations in humanitarian operations.

This workshop invites artists, researchers and experts in the field to collaborate with media artists Félicien Goguey and Marta Revuelta to explore innovative ways of visualizing and sonifying the human impact of cyberattacks. Taking recent attacks targeting critical infrastructures such as electrical grids and water plants as a starting point, participants will generate initial concepts for translating these complex and intangible events into audiovisual experiences that resonate with audiences on both emotional and intellectual levels. The aim of this workshop is to enrich the preliminary artistic research through collective and interdisciplinary reflection, and to lay the groundwork for a potential performance or installation that unveils the human implications of cyber threats.

Jacqueline Dalton is Head of Editorial Content at Fondation Hirondelle, a non-governmental organisation which aims to ensure that people in crisis-affected countries have access to reliable news, information and platforms for dialogue. Fondation Hirondelle supports and creates local-language media offering verified, useful content to audiences and giving a voice to diverse sectors of society, including the most vulnerable. Countering mis- and disinformation is an integral part of this work, including through monitoring social media, debunking false rumours and building media literacy. Jacqueline has 20 years’ experience in media and in humanitarian programming, notably with the British Broadcasting Corporation, where she worked as a journalist, and with the organisation’s international development charity, BBC Media Action, where she specialised in “communication as aid” to provide lifesaving information to communities facing humanitarian crises in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Félicien Goguey is a media artist and interaction designer who lives and works in Geneva, Switzerland. He explores the creative potential of programming languages and new technologies with a preference for open-source tools to create interactive installations, live performances, applications and connected objects. His main interests lie in communication networks and their imperceptibility, more precisely in the factors responsible for their imperceptibility and the invisible mechanisms that a user encounters, as well as their political and social consequences.

Marta Revuelta is a media artist and designer who lives and works in Geneva. Fascinated by the mutations of technological innovations and algorithmic governmentality, her current research and creative practice appropriate and associate elements from scientific research in artificial intelligence, algorithms of machine learning, and computer vision while using mechatronics, software programming, and biometric technologies to inquire fundamental ethical questions regarding the moments of drift or misuses, the limits and the status of these technological artifacts driven by AI used in the field of security and defense.

Joelle Rizk is the Digital Risks Advisor at the International Committee of the Red Cross. She works on risks to civilian populations emanating from the use of technology in conflict settings. Joelle joined the ICRC in 2014 and has taken multiple assignments in Afghanistan, Libya, Tunisia, the Sahel region of Africa, Iraq, Senegal and Jordan. Prior to the ICRC her work evolved around Track II diplomacy and Mediation in Afghanistan and Central Asia. She holds an M.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies and an M.A. in International Relations.  She has published articles on Digital Risks in conflict (2022-2023), on non-state armed groups and Trafficking in Persons (2020, 2021), and a book on the geopolitical dimensions of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan (2010).

Irwin Loy is senior policy editor at The New Humanitarian, a news agency that reports on crises to inform prevention and response. He covers aid policy and what it means for people living in humanitarian emergencies.

Cyril Yeterian is a Lebanese-born musician and music scout from Geneva, founder of the bands Mama Rosin and Cyril Cyril, and of the Bongo Joe record shop, café and record label.