UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have called on political leaders to urgently establish new international rules on autonomous weapon systems, also known as killer robots, to protect humanity.
“We call on world leaders to launch negotiations of a new legally binding instrument to set clear prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapon systems and to conclude such negotiations by 2026,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a joint appeal.
“In the current security landscape, setting clear international red lines will benefit all states,” they added, highlighting that “autonomous weapon systems – generally understood as weapon systems that select targets and apply force without human intervention – pose serious humanitarian, legal, ethical and security concerns”.
In addition, the two leaders said clear restrictions are needed for all other types of autonomous weapons, to ensure compliance with international law and ethical acceptability. These include limiting where, when and for how long they are used, the types of targets they strike and the scale of force used, as well as ensuring the ability for effective human supervision and timely intervention and deactivation.
The development and proliferation of weapon systems have the potential to significantly change the way wars are fought and contribute to global instability and heightened international tensions.
By creating a perception of reduced risk to military forces and to civilians, they may lower the threshold for engaging in conflicts, inadvertently escalating violence.
“We must act now to preserve human control over the use of force. Human control must be retained in life and death decisions,” Guterres and Ms Spoljaric said.
In their joint appeal, the UN and ICRC noted that the autonomous targeting of humans by machines is a moral line that should not be crossed, stressing that “machines with the power and discretion to take lives without human involvement should be prohibited by international law”.
“Our concerns have only been heightened by the increasing availability and accessibility of sophisticated new and emerging technologies, such as in robotics and artificial intelligence technologies that could be integrated into autonomous weapons,” they said.
International law, particularly international humanitarian law, prohibits certain weapons and sets general restrictions on the use of all others. APP
Please visit our website London Institute of Peace Research for latest peace news
