The wars of today are often seen as different to those half a century ago. Large battles have given to insurgiences, and technology has allowed operations to be executed at the push of a button.

For civilians, however, much remains the same. Caught in the middle, it is often these innocents who suffer the most. At the same time, we may be seeing ways in which civilians themselves are reshaping the battlefield, whether it be to resist oppression or to avoid atrocities.

On Wednesday May 11th, #HagueTalks presents a discussion on the role of civilians in times of war. Are they inherently a complication to any conflict? Can they be a help to defenders, or are they doomed to suffer? Has warfare really changed that much at all?

ABOUT SPEAKERS

Jan Tijmen Ninck Blok is a humanitarian legal advisor and will talk about how resistant are the rules of international humanitarian law in the future. Jan is Red Cross adviser on international humanitarian law and fundamental principles.

Lotje Boswinkel is a Strategic Analyst at HCSS. Prior to joining, she worked as a trainee at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), focusing on the Middle East and the future of war.

Ruslana Koropetska is from Ukrainine. She focuses on the topics of misinformation and propaganda during war and how international exhibitions on comics help fight such misinformation.

Event moderator is Connor Sattely, who believes that to solve the global challenges what we need is a special type of crazy person. These people have one foot in technology and one foot in systemic change, with the savvy to navigate that divide. And the built-in insanity that comes with those who dream about really changing the big picture systems in society.

This event is co-organised by the HagueTalksYouth – Youth Board. The Youth Board is a group representing young and engaged members of society. All based in the Hague, they assist in organising events to help foster growing interest in HagueTalks and ideas concerning peace and justice.

* You can get free tickets via Eventbrite to enter the event.