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Discours prononcé en anglais. Texte original, non traduit.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Swiss Confederation, it is a great pleasure and an honour for me to welcome you to the opening of the immersive experience ‘Digital Dilemmas’.
‘Digital Dilemmas’ has been co-organised by Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross, represented tonight by its President, Ms Mirjana Spoljaric. Thank you, Mirjana!
Let me also address a very warm welcome to Her Excellency Ms Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. We are honoured to have you here and look forward to your insightful remarks.
International humanitarian law, with the Geneva Conventions at its core, requires parties to armed conflict to protect civilians. Yet for civilians around the world, armed conflicts are synonymous with uncertainty, with pain, with loss.
Artificial intelligence, geolocation, biometrics and other digital technologies can alleviate the burden on civilians caught up in armed conflict. But they also bring new risks, such as disinformation and illicit surveillance.
Let me give you an example.
Knowing how many people live in a particular area is crucial for effective humanitarian action. But the lack of reliable census data, combined with forced displacement, makes this information hard to come by!
That is why researchers from the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne, together with the ICRC and the Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, have developed a program based on artificial intelligence that can estimate population density with unparalleled precision.
Furthermore, Switzerland, the ICRC and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne have set up a trainee programme for computer scientists to research and develop key technologies in the humanitarian sector, such as biometrics and artificial intelligence.
In these examples, artificial intelligence serves as a powerful tool enabling it to respond quickly and accurately to urgent needs – and even to anticipate them!
However, artificial intelligence can also be used to create and spread false information. This can lead to dangerous misjudgements. In fact, fake videos of violent incidents can even trigger retaliation and thus more violence!
To what extent then should we rely on artificial intelligence to analyse protection needs? In an age of deep fakes, how can we judge the veracity of a video as a source of information?
Another crucial digital dilemma concerns data sharing.
For civilians caught up in armed conflict, sharing personal data can help them find their loved ones, access healthcare, food, water or other essential resources.
But sharing data can make you more vulnerable. Information about ethnicity, gender, location, health and beliefs can render civilians targets – even though targeting civilians is against international humanitarian law.
In 2020, Switzerland, the ICRC and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs launched the Humanitarian Data and Trust Initiative. This diplomatic initiative, which involves numerous humanitarian organisations and states, offers guiding principles for responsible data sharing.
So protecting civilians also means protecting data.
But, as a humanitarian worker, how much personal data would you collect in a conflict situation? How would you go about protecting it? As a civilian, how much information would you share? To whom would you entrust your digital identity?
There are no simple answers to these questions. It is all the more important then to reflect on them, because lives depend on the answers we give. And because addressing these issues also means building trust between parties – a crucial precondition for humanitarian action.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Civilians bear a heavy burden in armed conflicts around the world – despite the legal obligation under international humanitarian law to protect them. Despite the humanitarian imperative that demands we do much more – in both the physical and digital realms.
Switzerland has always been a strong advocate of strict compliance with international humanitarian law. The protection of civilians is a long-standing priority for us – and I look forward to chairing a debate on this topic tomorrow in the Security Council.
Tonight though, I invite you to step into the shoes of civilians and humanitarian actors facing a digital dilemma in the midst of an armed conflict.
So bearing in mind the real-life consequences: How would you decide?
Thank you!