Momentum for New Treaty on Autonomous Weapons is Growing
Major military powers are preventing efforts by a majority of countries to prohibit autonomous weapons systems through a new international treaty, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 17, 2021, governments at the United Nations Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) were unable to agree to begin negotiations on new rules for “killer robots,” weapons that select and engage targets without meaningful human control.
“The lack of a substantive outcome at the UN review conference is a wholly inadequate response to the concerns raised by killer robots,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “The failure of the current diplomatic talks to recommend a path forward on killer robots shows that countries need to pursue a different avenue to prohibit these weapons systems. The world can’t wait.”
Momentum to create new law is gathering steam with the support of a broad range and growing number of governments and political leaders, institutions, private companies, scientists, and artificial intelligence experts.
Russia, the United States, India, and Israel were primarily responsible for preventing a majority of countries at the Review Conference from agreeing to open negotiations on legally binding rules on autonomous weapons systems, Human Rights Watch said. Because the Convention on Conventional Weapons operates by consensus, these four countries and a handful of others that are investing heavily in the military applications of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies prevented agreement on regulatory proposals.
Most countries at the conference expressed frustration and dissatisfaction that a mandate to negotiate new international law was not possible despite widespread support for that goal. Countries at the conference have spent the past eight years considering fundamental legal, operational, and technical concerns raised by the introduction of autonomy in weapons systems. Major military powers are preventing efforts by a majority of countries to prohibit autonomous weapons systems through a new international treaty, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 17, 2021, governments at the United Nations Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) were unable to agree to begin negotiations on new rules for “killer robots,” weapons that select and engage targets without meaningful human control.
“The lack of a substantive outcome at the UN review conference is a wholly inadequate response to the concerns raised by killer robots,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch. “The failure of the current diplomatic talks to recommend a path forward on killer robots shows that countries need to pursue a different avenue to prohibit these weapons systems. The world can’t wait.”
Momentum to create new law is gathering steam with the support of a broad range and growing number of governments and political leaders, institutions, private companies, scientists, and artificial intelligence experts.
– HRW
