Genocide between Digital Media and Artificial Intelligence: The Yazidis as a Case Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35246/nva6eb63Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence, Yazidis, Digital Media, Criminal Propaganda Documentation, Strengthening the Elements of the Crime, Recruitment and MobilizationAbstract
Genocide is considered one of the most heinous crimes that humanity has faced in modern history. It constitutes an organized campaign of mass killing directed against a specific national, ethnic, racial, or religious group with the intent to destroy it, in whole or in part, thereby making it a crime against humanity as a whole.
Recognizing the gravity of this crime, the United Nations took the initiative in 1948 by adopting the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, while the Iraqi High Criminal Court likewise established the legal framework governing the prosecution of this crime. However, with the rapid technological transformations of the contemporary era and the remarkable advancement of communication technologies, genocide has become no longer confined to conventional military methods. Instead, it has evolved into more sophisticated forms, as recent events have demonstrated that digital media have become a powerful tool in the hands of armed groups for disseminating propaganda, inciting hatred, facilitating recruitment, and exercising control over victims.
Conversely, advances in artificial intelligence have created unprecedented opportunities to employ these same digital media in the service of justice and criminal investigations. Artificial intelligence technologies can assist in analyzing digital evidence, reconstructing criminal events, verifying digital content, and strengthening the evidentiary basis required to establish criminal responsibility. The atrocities committed by ISIS against the Yazidis in Iraq represent a prominent example of this transformation, illustrating both the misuse of digital media in facilitating genocide and the growing potential of artificial intelligence to document, investigate, and prove such crimes before competent judicial authorities.
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References
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