A Case of incapacity: the interrogation of international humanitarian law as a satisfactory regulator of cyber warfare.

Abstract

Cyber warfare for it is a new concept in the conduct of war and is thus not properly understood hence considered a grey area with inadequate legislation. This dissertation seeks to bring to light the emergence and steady growth of cyber warfare as a method of war and to emphasize on the pressing need to regulate such wars. War is inevitable and many States are adopting this method of war because it harbors many benefits for the perpetrators who at first instance have their identity sealed and this enables them to escape liability for such actions. International Humanitarian Law is presently the legal basis through which cyber warfare is regulated. This paper offers an in-depth understanding of the ‘law of war’ vis-à-vis Cyber warfare. It seeks to examine the principles, philosophies, scope, laws, policies, rules and the rationale of International Humanitarian Law as a foundational basis to its applicability to Cyber warfare. It also looks into the manifestations of cyber warfare in the recent past and present as well as other institutional and regulatory influences in this field such as the Tallinn Manual which further provides that there are no treaty provisions directly addressing cyber warfare and although International law may also derive from custom, it is difficult to establish given the novelty of the field whether there is always enough available material and practice to draw conclusions of customary law from. This dissertation also offers some recommendations for future success in the regulation of cyber war.