The International Law Centre at the Swedish Defence
University are very pleased to welcome Dr Rain Liivoja from the University of Melbourne to share his work in this exciting field which is also the subject of research at the centre.
Dr Rain Liivoja
Bioenhanced
Soldiers and the Prohibition of Unnecessary Suffering
9 September 2015, 1500hrs
Rm 206A&B, Swedish Defence University, Drottning Kristinas väg 37
The 2012 movie The Bourne Legacy featured intelligence
operatives who had been genetically engineered and pharmacologically tweaked
for superior mental and physical performance. This is not as far-fetched as one
might think: artificial enhancement, maintenance or restoration of human
cognitive and physical performance is something actively pursued by advanced
armed forces. This presentation seeks to examine bioenhancement in relation to
the well-established rule of the law of armed conflict prohibiting the use of
means and methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or
unnecessary suffering. If enhancement techniques produce more durable, pain-
and fatigue-resistant soldiers, does that have an impact on what amounts to
unnecessary suffering? Could enhanced soldiers be attacked using means and
methods of warfare that would be prohibited otherwise? Would this lead to a
different legal standard for weapons used against ordinary and enhanced
soldiers?
Rain Liivoja is a Senior Lecturer and Society in Science
– Branco Weiss Fellow at Melbourne Law School, where he co-directs the
Programme on the Regulation of Emerging Military Technology (PREMT). Rain is
also an Affiliated Research Fellow of the Erik Castrén Institute of
International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki. His research
focuses on the regulatory challenges associated with military applications of
biosciences. Rain is a member of the Board of Directors of the International
Society for Military Law and the Law of War, chair of the International Peace
and Security Interest Group of the Australian and New Zealand Society of
International Law, and a member of the Australian Red Cross International
Humanitarian Law Committee (Victorian Division). Rain holds a doctorate in
public international law from the University of Helsinki.
