Danger Close: The Case Against Killer Robots

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) have published their newest report: "Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots". As discussed in a press release yesterday, the authors indicate that the report is the "first major publication about fully autonomous weapons by a nongovernmental organization and is based on extensive research into the law, technology, and ethics of these proposed weapons."

The term "killer robots", as they are identified in the report, refers to those unmanned, "fully autonomous weapons that could select and engage targets without human intervention." Although technology suggests that the creation and implementation of these weapons is approximately 20-30 years away, Human Rights Watch has laid a clear foundation arguing that the killer robots are not congruent with international humanitarian law.

So, what's the answer? The authors call for states to create a preemptive prohibition and a new international legal framework on the grounds that these weapons would severely undermine the protection of civilians, and essentially render useless those safeguards (both legal and non-legal) which exist for civilians during war. According to the report, the fully autonomous robots do not meet the standards of the laws of war - that is, the rules of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity. The greatest concern is that the killer robots lack the ability to make decisions using human qualities such as emotion and compassion, which therefore leads to unsavory effects such as the erosion of accountability and justice, a lower threshold of war, and a shift in the burden of war from combatants to civilians.

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