Governments meeting today at the United Nations in Geneva should commit to a global process to negotiate a total ban on the development, transfer and potential use of “killer robots”, Amnesty International said.
The organization and its NGO partners believe a new international treaty is needed to address this emerging technology. Once activated, these weapons – also known as lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) – can select, attack, kill and injure human targets without meaningful human control.
A total ban on the development, deployment and use of ‘killer robots’ is the only real solution, if states want to avoid sleepwalking beyond the point of no return where machines are empowered to make life or death decisions in policing and warfare.
Rasha Abdul Rahim, Adviser on Arms Control at Amnesty International
To date, 19 states have called for a pre-emptive ban and states in Geneva today are expected to agree a recommended plan of action, including establishing a Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) to begin formal discussions in 2017. Amnesty International believes the talks should continue with a view to negotiating a ban on LAWS.
“A total ban on the development, deployment and use of ‘killer robots’ is the only real solution, if states want to avoid sleepwalking beyond the point of no return where machines are empowered to make life or death decisions in policing and warfare,” said Rasha Abdul Rahim, Adviser on Arms Control at Amnesty International.
“Taking a ‘wait and see’ approach would be simply too risky, leading to the further investment by states in the development of fully autonomous weapons systems and their rapid proliferation in a new arms race.”
Amnesty International is a member of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, which has been attending the Fifth Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons concluding in Geneva today.
More of Amnesty International’s work on ‘killer robots’: