During the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Italy organised, together with the Universities Network for Chidren in Armed Conflicts, a side-event on the impact of new technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, on children living in armed conflict contexts. With the participation of the UN Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflicts, Virginia Gamba, the event highlighted how the rapid evolution of new technologies presents unprecedented challenges to international peace and security and to human rights, particularly of children, including through tactics of digital recruitment, surveillance and deployment of autonomous systems.
“It is important to take a comprehensive and integrated approach, recognising that peace, security and sustainable development are strongly interlinked with human rights, international humanitarian law and disarmament,” stressed the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Vincenzo Grassi. He highlighted how the complex challenges posed by contemporary armed conflicts, including the use of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, have a disproportionate impact on children, who therefore require enhanced protection.
“We are candidate to the membership of the Human Rights Council for the 2026-2028 term and we will ensure that we continue contributing, in that capacity, to the protection of human rights both within the Council and in our relations with all relevant United Nations agencies”. The Ambassador emphasised the importance of building partnerships with civil society and academia as well, and of carrying out international awareness-raising campaigns in favour of child safety in armed conflicts.
Among the speakers, Professor Fausto Pocar recalled the importance of respecting the principles of proportionality, precaution, and distinction at all times, also in light of the risks posed by automatic weapons.
The event, which was also promoted by Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Slovenia, represented the first step towards the affirmation of an innovative framework of multilateralism that combines the dimension of disarmament with human rights and international humanitarian law for the maintenance of peace and international security in a world characterised by increasingly complex challenges.
