UN expert wants military robot development stopped

Warning of a scenario involving "mechanical slaughter," a United Nations expert has pushed for a moratorium on the testing and use of automated armed robots that can kill targets without needing human command.

 

UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns warned such a war without reflection is mechanical slaughter, the New York Times reported.

 

“A decision to allow machines to be deployed to kill human beings worldwide, whatever weapons they use, deserves a collective pause,” he told the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the NYT reported.

 

Heyns particularly urged the Council to set up a high-level panel to report on advances in the development of “lethal autonomous robotics.”

 

Such a panel will have a year to see if existing international laws are enough to regulate the use of such potential automated killers.

 

“My concern is that we may find ourselves on the other side of a line, and then it is very difficult to go back. If there’s ever going to be a time to regulate or stop these weapons, it’s now,” he said in an interview.

 

In pushing for the moratorium, Heyns voiced concerns that while no countries presently use such weapons, the technology may be available soon - or even now.

 

He also said in a report on lethal autonomous robotics that armed robots may raise “far-reaching concerns about the protection of life during war and peace.”

 

The NYT report said the United States, Britain, Israel and South Korea now use technologies considered as precursors to fully autonomous systems.

 

On the other hand, it said little is known about the progress of Russia and China in developing such weapons.

 

However, Heyns noted some states developing such weapons such as the United States have committed not to deploy them for now.

 

A United States Defense Department directive issued in November banned the use of lethal force by autonomous weapons for up to 10 years, he noted.

 

The exception is that if their use is specifically authorized by senior officials.

 

But advocates of the robots cited several advantages, including faster processing of information compared to humans, and not being subject to fear, panic, revenge or emotions.

 

They added robots can acquire battlefield data that can help target fire accurately and in the process may save lives.

 

Humans, weakest link

 

The NYT report said Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School cited a United States Air Force assessment that by 2030, machine capabilities will have improved such that humans "will have become the weakest component in a wide array of systems and processes.”

 

Yet, human rights groups dispute robots can meet the requirements of international law, including the ability to distinguish between civilians and combatants.

 

They also questioned such robots' ability to assess proportionality, such as whether the likely harm to civilians during a military action is greater than the military advantage gained.

 

Also, they raised the issue of who will be responsible and who will be punished if a killer robot breaches international laws and causes civilian casualties.

 

Outlawing autonomous killer robots

 

Heyns' efforts come amid campaigns by non-government organizations and human rights groups to ban fully autonomous weapons.

 

The NYT report said Stephen Goose, director of Human Rights Watch’s arms division, had disclosed discussions are ongoing with governments that may be willing to lead in drafting a treaty to outlaw the weapons.

 

“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,” Goose said.  — ELR, GMA News