Human Rights Watch today fired the first salvo in its bid to establish an international ban on autonomous “killer robots.”
The NGO argues that the rapid push to field armed and autonomous robot planes, boats, and ground vehicles will place civilian lives at risk and make it easier for countries possessing such weapons to go to war, while eroding the ability to punish war crimes.
“We believe these systems would not be able to comply with international humanitarian law standards and would pose unacceptable dangers to civilians during armed conflict. It would also create an accountability gap, as it would be unclear who should be held responsible for the inevitable violations of international humanitarian law that would occur,” said Stephen Goose, executive director of arms programs at HRW, during a press conference today.