Organizations want UN treaty banning the development of ‘killer robots’

Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School are calling on the United Nations to draft a treaty banning the development of fully autonomous weapon systems, also known as ‘killer robots’.

According to the authors of the report ‘Mind the Gap’, military personnel, programmers and companies are not currently liable under current legislation for killing people by autonomously operating weapon systems. They also consider it unlikely that such legislation will be drawn up by countries in the future. Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School therefore want a binding UN treaty that explicitly prohibits the development of autonomous weapon systems. The production and use of such weapons must also be restricted.

The organizations recognize that there are currently no ‘killer robots’, but that there is already weaponry on the market that comes close to that. As examples they cite the Israeli missile defense Iron Dome and the American Phalanx and C-RAM weapon systems. These defensive systems can automatically spring into action when a threat is detected. Reference is also made to military drones that increasingly perform certain tasks autonomously, such as performing intercontinental flights or landing independently on an aircraft carrier.

The organizations’ report was published on the eve of a UN conference on conventional weapons. Among other things, they are looking at additions to a UN treaty that prohibits the use of certain weapons, such as cluster bombs and blinding laser weapons. In 2009, a number of researchers also argued in favor of restricting military robots.