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Advocating for A Legally Binding Instrument on Autonomous Weapons Systems: Which Way Ahead

By Catherine Connolly

Since 2023, there has been noticeable movement in the efforts to ban or regulate lethal autonomous weapons systems. A series of important conferences in various regions of the world have documented not only the concern of a large part of the international community regarding the risks of such systems, but also their willingness to agree on binding rules under international law. A resolution adopted by a large majority has also succeeded in shifting the urgent issue to the UN General Assembly. This is all the more important as the Geneva talks in the Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, which have been going on for years, are unlikely to lead to any substantial results in the foreseeable future.

AWS raise significant ethical, legal and humanitarian concerns due to their ability to trigger an attack or killing through algorithmic analysis of sensor data and without a human decision. There is now broad support for a two-tiered approach consisting of bans on systems without human control and the regulation of all others by means of positive obligations. The concept of “meaningful human control” plays a special role in ensuring compliance with international law norms and principles. It is operationalized in criteria such as predictability, comprehensibility and limited scope and scale of use, which enable the human operator to actually control the targeting process and the parameters of use. However, for reasons of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law as well as ethical considerations, systems that are used to kill people should be banned, even if they are subject to significant human control. Fundamental assessments and considerations, such as those required by the principles of distinction and proportionality, cannot and must not be delegated to algorithms. In addition, there are risks to international security and worrying progress in the field of weapons autonomization. The international community should therefore use the momentum to start negotiations on clear and binding prohibitions and rules.

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