Un, Red Cross Call For Ban On Killer Robots

In a compelling joint statement issued this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), have called for immediate global attention to the potential catastrophic impact of autonomous weapons, often referred to as "killer robots." They emphasized that addressing this pressing issue is not just a matter of security but a crucial "humanitarian priority." Guterres and Spoljaric urged nations to take swift action by establishing specific bans and restrictions on autonomous weapon systems by the year 2026, with the goal of safeguarding both current and future generations from the grave consequences associated with their use. They stressed that setting international boundaries in this evolving security landscape would be beneficial for all nations. Autonomous weapon systems, defined as systems capable of selecting targets and applying force without human intervention, pose a significant array of humanitarian, legal, ethical, and security challenges. Guterres and Spoljaric expressed their concern that these systems have the potential to reshape the dynamics of warfare, potentially increasing global instability by lowering the threshold for engaging in conflicts. The UN and ICRC leaders insisted that immediate action is necessary to maintain human control over the use of force, asserting that the autonomous targeting of humans by machines is a moral boundary that must not be crossed. They called for the prohibition of machines possessing the power and discretion to take human lives without human involvement, firmly asserting the necessity of enshrining this prohibition in international law. Their concerns have been further heightened by the growing availability and sophistication of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can be integrated into autonomous weapons. They called for a ban on autonomous weapon systems that operate unpredictably, emphasizing their dangerous nature. In addition to clear restrictions on autonomous weapons, the UN and ICRC leaders stressed the need for limits on their use, the types of targets they can engage, and the scale of force they can deploy. They highlighted the importance of establishing new international rules and a legally binding instrument to ensure the clarity and strength of existing laws, emphasizing that such actions are essential to prevent dire consequences for humanity. While discussions on autonomous weapons have occurred at the UN in Geneva in recent years, finding common ground among nations to initiate substantive negotiations has remained a challenge. Guterres and Spoljaric called upon world leaders to launch negotiations for a new legally binding instrument and conclude these negotiations by 2026, recognizing the urgency of the matter at hand.