New Weapons, Old Crimes?

Recently, States have chosen to deploy new weapons with sophisticated technological platform that operate in a different way respect to the traditional use of weapons on the battlefield, such as the unmanned aerial vehicles that does not carry a human operator and that can be piloted remotely. These vehicles, outfitted with missiles, become weapons dissimilar from traditional arms under many aspects. This study attempts to analyse whether deployment of these instruments comply, in the context of an armed conflict, with general rules of international humanitarian law (IHL). In light of the technological developments that changed the war scenario in modern armed conflicts, it has been necessary to assess whether there is a legal vacuum with regard to the so-called new weapons or it is possible to apply to these weapons existing IHL rules. In the latter case, problems in the implementation of traditional principles of IHL has been verified in these new contexts with regard to tools that are not weapons per se but may be transformed into weapons through their use. We have focused too on the question of targeting individuals i.e. high-level belligerent leaders in an armed conflict and if this target selection violates the law of war. Finally, we have considered if the deployment of drones outfitted with missiles may be evaluate as war crime and who is responsible for it, taking note that drones are directed remotely without a direct participation in hostilities on the battlefield with a new problem on the identification of the person responsible for crimes. In conclusion, it seems that even if there are no specific prohibitions on certain types of new weapons, general principles of IHL concerning the use of weapons in armed conflict and international criminal law are applicable and must be taken into account in order to assess both the lawfulness of the use of such weapons under IHL in a given case and the individual criminal responsibility under international criminal law. Consequently, when assessing the responsibility for war crimes in the use of new weapons it must be taken into account of the characteristics of the weapon employed. If the new weapon is inherently incapable to hit a specific target or if it has been used in contrast with the principles of IHL and individual is aware of the indiscriminate effect of the deployment, the responsibility for war crimes should be affirmed.