A lively discussion followed the screening of the French documentary There Will Be No More Night, which took place on 11 December at the online cinema DOCUSPACE, within the Travelling Docudays UA in Kharkiv Region.

In the film, directed by Éléonore Weber, the audience saw the realities of the lives of helicopter pilots who fly over combat zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Equipped with cutting-edge optical technologies, they destroy living targets at night but are in constant fear of making mistakes. The film demonstrates how far the desire to see everything can take you when used without limit.

The Legal Cinema Hall was organized by Yurii Chumak, the regional coordinator of the Travelling Docudays UA Festival in Kharkiv Region. Cadets of the Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, students of the Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics, moderators of Docudays UA media education film clubs, which underwent a training programme under the mentorship of Yurii Chumak, journalists, and civil society activists attended the event.

We share the key statements made during the discussion.

Andrii Ehrlikh, civil society activist:

— The purpose of using cutting-edge weapons is to increase accuracy and reduce the number of casualties among the civilian population. However, the film shows that new technologies pose new challenges to humanity.

Tatiana Sava, head of the Docudays UA film club at the community-based organization V Ednanni Syla («В єднанні сила»):

— Impressions from what I saw are scary. Different people in it were constantly at gunpoint. I remember the phrase from the movie: "There will be no more war, in which the parties look into each other’s eyes." There will be no more the night as well. After all, modern military equipment allows you to see everything at night, as during the day.

Svitlana Fienota, civil society activist:

— I think about how much effort, time, and resources people spend to destroy others. If the resources spent were used for creative and peaceful purposes, the world would be completely different!

Daria Trofymenko, associate professor at the Department of Legal Regulation of Faculty of Economics and Law at the Simon Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics:

— It's cool to use modern technology, isn’t it? But what if these technologies are used in civilian life to follow the person, control people, destroy those who resist? During the war, the rights of human beings and first of all rights of the civilian population, are always violated, no matter how accurate and modern the weapons are. 

Oleksii Rvachov, senior lecturer at the Department of Cyber ​​Security and DATA-Technologies of Faculty №6 at Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs:

— There are international norms that set out the rules of war. The film shows how they are violated: both unarmed and wounded people suffer. The cadets believe that there is a need for proper civilian control of the military so that they do not exceed their powers.

Finally, Yurii Chumak shared brief information on international humanitarian law, which limits the methods and means of warfare and regulates the protection of victims. The human rights activist stressed that under conditions when the military uses modern technologies which develop fast and can independently decide on the destruction of targets, there is an urgent need to create appropriate international legal regulations.

Text: Heorhii Kobzar