Civilians are increasingly becoming direct targets in modern armed conflicts, especially with the spread of new technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, warned during her speech at the Munich Security Conference.

"Today we are seeing twice as many armed conflicts as 15 years ago and four times as many as 30 years ago," she stressed, underlining that the global security situation has deteriorated significantly.

According to Spoljaric, it is not just about the increase in the number of conflicts, but also their intensity and scale. "Armed conflicts are getting worse due to rapid technological progress," she said, citing in particular the impact on the increase in forced population displacement.

She stressed that drones are being used not only against military targets, but increasingly against civilians as well. “Wars have become wars not against those who carry weapons, but against civilians, in a deliberate manner,” the head of the ICRC declared.

Spoljaric also warned of the danger of abandoning respect for international humanitarian law during conflicts. “If you destroy the rules of war and say you will win at all costs, without rules, then you send a message to all those who carry weapons that anything is permitted. It is only a matter of time before a bomb explodes in your city,” she stressed, adding that new technologies and the proliferation of armed groups make this scenario increasingly likely.