Navigating the legal landscape of digital humanitarianism: international humanitarian law, risks, and best practices

This paper examines the intersection of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and digital humanitarianism through doctrinal and policy analysis. It does not present original empirical data; its methodology is grounded in systematic review of existing legal instruments, primary sources, academic scholarship, and documented humanitarian practice. The paper identifies three principal legal challenges confronting digital humanitarians: misinformation and disinformation, cyberbullying and online harassment, and data privacy violations, and analyzes the extent to which existing IHL principles of distinction, proportionality, and humanity address them. Drawing on the Tallinn Manual, ICRC guidance, and recent scholarship including Fleur Johns’ #Help (2023), the paper argues that IHL contains significant gaps when applied to digital humanitarian operations and proposes a framework of best practices to guide practitioners and inform policy reform. The non-empirical scope of this analysis is acknowledged as a limitation, and directions for future empirical research are identified.