Killer robots: New UN report urges treaty by 2026

(New York, August 26, 2024) – Governments should respond to the call by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to negotiate a new international treaty. Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems These “killer robots,” which select and attack targets based on sensor processing rather than human input, are a dangerous development for humanity, Human Rights Watch said today.

In one Report published on August 6, 2024The Secretary-General reiterated his call for States to conclude a new international treaty by 2026 “to ban weapons systems that operate without human control or supervision and cannot be used as intended”. International humanitarian law“This treaty should regulate all other types of autonomous weapons systems,” the secretary-general said.

“The UN secretary-general has stressed that removing human control over weapons systems will have huge adverse consequences for humanity,” said Mary Wareham, deputy director of crises, conflict, and arms at Human Rights Watch. “There is broad international support for addressing this issue, which should encourage governments to begin negotiations without delay.”

Autonomy has been incorporated into weapon systems for years, but autonomous weapon systems have been limited in terms of time, geographic range, and operating environments. Technological advances are driving the development of weapon systems that do not require active human control, placing life-and-death decisions in the hands of machines. Machines, not human operators, will decide what force to use, when, and where.

UN report Depend on A December 2023 UN resolution requested the secretary-general to seek the views of states and other stakeholders “from humanitarian, legal, security, technical and ethical perspectives” to address the challenges and concerns raised by autonomous weapon systems and reflect those views in a report. General Assembly resolution 78/241 The issue of lethal autonomous weapons systems was also included in the provisional agenda of the 79th UN General Assembly, which will open on September 10.

this New UN report Reflecting 58 submissions from more than 73 countries, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Civil Society Groups include Human Rights Watchone Review The study, conducted by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots’ Automated Decision-Making Research Project, found that 47 of 58 submissions expressed support for some form of ban or regulation of autonomous weapons systems.

Many of the UN reports expressed concern and regret that the CCW negotiations held since 2014 have failed to make progress on this issue and adopt new international law. Another international forum In his report, the secretary-general called the General Assembly an “inclusive forum for discussion” on autonomous weapon systems because of its “virtually universal membership and broad substantive scope” and its ability to consider “international peace and security” issues.

Human Rights Watch said that addressing the killer robot challenge under the auspices of the UN General Assembly would allow for greater consideration of issues that have been neglected in previous discussions, including ethical perspectives, international human rights law, nuclear proliferation, and the impact on global security and regional and international stability.

In his report, the Secretary-General reiterated that “time is running out for the international community to take preventive action on this issue” and reiterated that “urgent action must be taken to preserve human control over the use of force”.

Interest in negotiating an international treaty on autonomous weapon systems continues to grow. In April, more than 1,000 delegates from 144 countries attended a high-level international conference on autonomous weapon systems in Vienna. Prior to this, a series of regional conferences on autonomous weapon systems had been held over a 14-month period. costa rica, Luxembourg, Trinidad and Tobago, the Philippinesand Sierra LeoneMost countries issued a regional communiqué calling for urgent negotiations on a legally binding instrument containing prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems.

At the initiative of the Secretary-General, world leaders will meet at UN Headquarters on 22-23 September to Future SummitThey are expected to sign a “Pact for the Future” covering a wide range of initiatives. Including killer robots. this The current draft of the Convention It recommended that countries act “urgently” to develop a measure to address the risks posed by autonomous weapon systems.

“The Future Summit provides an important opportunity for countries to express high-level support for launching negotiations to ban and restrict autonomous weapon systems,” said Welham. “Without clear legal rules, the world faces a grim future of automated killing that will put civilians around the world at grave risk.”

Human Rights Watch is a co-founder of Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of more than 260 nongovernmental organizations from 70 countries working to develop new international law on autonomy in weapon systems.