Killer Robots: UN Official Joins Call For Ban

Killer Robots: UN Official Joins Call For Ban

A UN official joins a campaign to ban robots able to attack and kill without human direction, even though they don't exist yet.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots was launched in London last month

Robots that can attack and kill without human direction should be banned before they come into existence, according to a senior UN official.

Lethal autonomous robotics (LARs) have not yet been created but are described as "the next major revolution in military affairs".
The Terminator-style weapons systems could select, engage and kill targets without further human intervention once activated.
Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on summary executions, called for a global moratorium as he presented a report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
"While drones still have a 'human in the loop' who takes the decision to use lethal force, LARs have on-board computers that decide who should be targeted," he said.
"The possible introduction of LARs raises far-reaching concerns about the protection of life during war and peace."
Their introduction will mean "machines and not humans, will take the decision on who is alive or dies,” he said, making it easier for States to go to war.
"If deployed, LARs will take humans ‘out of the loop'," Mr Heyns warned.
"States find this technology attractive because human decision-making is often much slower than that of robots, and human thinking can be clouded by emotion.
"At the same time, humans may in some cases, unlike robots, be able
to act out of compassion or grace and can, based on their understanding of the bigger picture, know that a more lenient approach is called for in a specific situation," he added.

Unmanned drones are controlled from thousands of miles away. Picture: MoD

In a summary of his 22-page report, he said: "Their deployment may be unacceptable because no adequate system of legal accountability can be devised, and because robots should not have the power of life and death over human beings."
The possibility of LARs, he adds, highlights concerns to "the extent to which they can be programmed to comply with the requirements of international humanitarian law and the standards protecting life under international human rights law".
He concludes: "The Special Rapporteur recommends that States establish national moratoria on aspects of LARs, and calls for the establishment of a high-level panel on LARs to articulate a policy for the international community on the issue."
Human Rights Watch is co-ordinating the Campaign To Stop Killer Robots, a new international coalition working to pre-emptively ban LARs.
HRW arms director Steve Goose said: "The UN report makes it abundantly clear that we need to put the brakes on fully autonomous weapons, or civilians will pay the price in the future.
"The US and every other country should endorse and carry out the UN call to stop any plans for killer robots in their tracks."
He adds: "It is possible to halt the slide toward full autonomy in weaponry before moral and legal boundaries are crossed, but only if we start to draw the line now."
Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic has published its own report, Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots, which outlines legal, ethical, policy, and other concerns with fully autonomous weapons.