ICRC raises awareness of dangers to civilians by cyber warfare

BEIRUT,Feb.12(MNA)— The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hosted a workshop on the Mediterranean peninsula of Beirut last week, highlighting the threat of cyber attacks on civilian populations. Attendees from Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, Switzerland, Libya, Yemen, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, Morocco, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Iraq, Sudan, and Jordan, met on 2-3 February at the Raouche Arjaan Hotel in Beirut to discuss a range of security and legal issues based on the International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Some participants used Stuxnet, a virus designed to interfere with the industrial processes at the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran, as an example of the growing cyber dimension to international military attacks. Cyber weapons such as Stuxnet can cause unintended consequences for the civilians of targeted countries, as the virus can proliferate within national information systems, potentially affecting airports, hydroelectric dams and transportation networks. The Delegate for Security and Armed Forces Khaled Abujoudeh’s talk on the issue, defined cyber warfare as actions that penetrate a nation’s computers or networks for the purposes of causing damage or disruption. The Head of the ICRC’s Cairo delegation Klaus Spreyermann also discussed in detail the violations of the international humanitarian law on preserving life and liberty of journalists in the conflict areas as a senior journalist from Libya represented more examples related to the uprisings on the context of the Islamic Awakening. Hisham Hassan, the ICRC spokesperson in Geneva, stressed the need for greater public awareness on international humanitarian law, particularly with respect to the safety and protection of journalists in war zones. The ICRC runs courses and workshops to promote the impartiality of journalists in conflicts and explicitly prohibits any violence committed against them; in particular murder, hostage taking, humiliation and torture. International humanitarian law affords journalists the same protection that is granted to civilians, as long as they do not take any direct part in the hostilities. During the 45 years it has been present in Lebanon, the ICRC has provided assistance and protection to civilians affected by armed conflict, including families separated by hostilities, detainees, and refugees. ICRC provided a guide book for the event entitled “Staying Alive”, a resource for journalists on how to be safe in the face of dangerous situations. To provide some much-needed examples, Tania Muhanna, the senior correspondent at Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), shared her helpful personal experiences on the battle zones and offered some practical safety measures to be adopted by the journalists. ICRC spokesman Marcal Izard reminded attendees of the ICRC HOTLINE (permanent phone number: +41 79 217 32 85), a service at the disposal of journalists who find themselves in trouble in armed conflicts. Via this service, journalists, their employers or their relatives may alert ICRC to request assistance in instances when a reporter goes missing, is wounded or has been detained. Izard outlined the kinds of protection ICRC can provide to journalists in the field. They include notifying of reported arrest/capture and providing families and lawyer access to detained reporters under the banner of the ICRC. Secondly, the organization offers services to notify next of kin in the event of an arrest/ detention and actively traces missing journalists, to evacuate them in times of danger and – in the worst cases – recovering and repatriating mortal remains. During the last session of the workshop, Deputy Head of ICRC in Cairo Zeinab Ghosn discussed the advantages and disadvantages of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Ghosn said that while these platforms are a powerful news gathering source, allowing citizens and journalists to upload pictures and video from any conflict, anywhere, verification is a perennial problem. She said that because of the relative anonymity of Facebook and Twitter, sources cannot be 100% verified. In conclusion, a public discussion was held on the positive outcome of such workshops and all the participants unanimously expressed a view that the event was fruitful and hoped for similar meetings in the future.