A scene from the “Digital Dilemmas — Civilians a+ Coronary heart” exhibition on show on the Battle Memorial of Korea in central Seoul’s Yongsan District. Courtesy of ICRC Mission in Seoul
By Bereket Alemayehu
New technological advances deliver digital dangers that carry real-life penalties. That is the message of an exhibition at present on show on the Battle Memorial of Korea in central Seoul’s Yongsan District.
In commemoration of the seventy fifth anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, the Worldwide Committee of the Crimson Cross (ICRC) and the Embassy of Switzerland in Korea co-organized the exhibition “Digital Dilemmas — Civilians a+ Coronary heart” which opened on Aug. 30.
The exhibition explores the continued relevance of the Geneva Conventions at the moment, ratified by 196 states, which comprise crucial guidelines limiting the barbarity of struggle, and led to the delivery of contemporary worldwide humanitarian legislation (IHL).
The immersive multimedia set up on the coronary heart of this exhibition, “Digital Dilemmas,” examines digital know-how’s impacts on civilians in disaster conditions and the work of humanitarian organizations, in addition to showcases Switzerland’s ongoing dedication to international peace and safety.
“We’ve about 120 wars all over the world proper now, and now we have seen for the final 15 years large evolutions with the impression of digital applied sciences getting used,” Philippe Stoll, senior techplomacy delegate of the ICRC, mentioned throughout a media tour on Sept. 12. “For us, after we see this evolution, we wish to create one thing that makes individuals suppose, as a result of we’d like new norms, and new requirements in order that the impact of struggle on the inhabitants is minimal.”
Stoll’s work is on the intersection between governments, academia, humanitarianism and the personal sector to higher defend individuals affected by armed conflicts from the impacts of cyberwarfare, digital surveillance, on-line hate speech, privateness and autonomous weapon techniques. He additionally focuses on guaranteeing the moral and principled use of know-how by humanitarian organizations. Obsessed with making these points extra concrete, he created the “Digital Dilemmas” immersive expertise and co-produced a web-based course titled Humanitarian Motion within the Digital Area.
Philippe Stoll poses throughout a media tour of the “Digital Dilemmas — Civilians a+ Coronary heart” exhibition on the Battle Memorial of Korea in central Seoul’s Yongsan District, Sept. 12. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu
The set up was launched in 2019 throughout a convention in Geneva. Since then, it has been proven in about 40 areas all over the world, together with U.N. headquarters in New York in Might 2023. It additionally exists within the type of an internet site in 4 languages, the place guests discover points similar to disinformation, knowledge safety, surveillance, biometrics, AI and deepfakes, amongst others. Organizers mentioned that greater than half one million individuals have skilled it worldwide.
“That is one thing we do all all over the world to attempt to have international locations signal agreements to say they aren’t going to make use of AI, for instance, which targets human beings,” he mentioned. “We hope that at the moment the usage of AI in weapons continues to be originally and we hope to ban it.”
In his 20 years working on the ICRC, Stoll has managed strategic and public communications, and was based mostly in Sierra Leone, Israel and the Occupied Territories and India, and carried out area missions in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Lebanon and Ethiopia. He was deployed in Ukraine in March and April 2022 for a assist mission to reply to misinformation campaigns towards the ICRC. The exhibition is deliberate to proceed its world tour to go on its message, that digital dangers have real-life penalties.
Guests have a look at the Information Detox Bar throughout a media tour of the “Digital Dilemmas — Civilians a+ Coronary heart” exhibition on the Battle Memorial of Korea in central Seoul’s Yongsan District, Sept. 12. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu
The ICRC, established in 1863, is the world’s longest-running and largest worldwide humanitarian group. It’s a impartial, neutral and unbiased group with an solely humanitarian mandate underneath the Geneva Conventions. It helps individuals all over the world affected by armed battle and different violence, doing all the pieces it will probably to guard their lives and dignity and to alleviate their struggling. The ICRC is on the origin of the Worldwide Crimson Cross and Crimson Crescent Motion, and it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recogntion of its humanitarian actions. With its headquarters in Geneva, about 19,000 ICRC personnel are working in over 100 international locations all over the world.
The exhibition additionally underscores Switzerland’s ongoing dedication to international peace and safety, highlighting its function in selling peace on the Korean Peninsula by way of its inaugural participation in a world peace assist operation as a member of the Impartial Nations Supervisory Fee.
The “Digital Dilemmas — Civilians a+ Coronary heart” exhibition is on show on the Battle Memorial of Korea in central Seoul’s Yongsan District. Courtesy of ICRC Mission in Seoul
The exhibition’s companions — the Korean Crimson Cross and Korea Worldwide Cooperation Company — are additionally showcasing how they method humanitarian motion and innovation of their aid and improvement initiatives. It was sponsored by the Korea Battle Memorial Group, the Ministry of International Affairs, the Swiss Confederation and the Swiss Fund Korea.
The exhibition coincides with the Summit on Accountable Synthetic Intelligence within the Navy Area (REAIM), which was held in Seoul on Sept. 9 and 10 to reinforce understanding of the accountable improvement, deployment and use of AI within the navy area and to contribute to the institution of associated worldwide norms.
“Digital Dilemmas” runs till Nov. 16. Go to digital-dilemmas.icrc.org for extra info.
Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photograph artist, social activist and author based mostly in Seoul. He is additionally the co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative and freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Company.
