We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
LAWS unto Themselves: Controlling the Development and Use of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems.
- Authors
Bills, Gwendelynn
- Abstract
Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems ("LAWS") are robots used to deliver lethal force that possess near-human decision making abilities. Although LAWS do not yet exist, recent military advancements have laid the foundation for the development of autonomous weapons technology. Current weapons, such as the United Kingdom's Taranis or the United States's X-47B, are capable of choosing their own routes, identifying their own targets, and determining to use lethal force. Fully autonomous LAWS, on the other hand, have no human involvement when decisions are made. This autonomy provides a number of military advantages including: lack of types of human emotions that lead to war crimes, the ability to process greater amounts of information better than a human, and the preservation of fiscal and human resources. The international community is demanding action to regulate this entirely new type of weapon. The international law governing weapons currently limits weapons in two different ways. First a weapon that either causes unnecessary injury or is unable to make a distinction between civilian and military targets is considered per se unlawful. The current state of LAWS technology provides insufficient data upon which to determine if LAWS will violate either prohibition. The second limitation on weapons prohibits individual uses of a weapon that fail to make a distinction between civilian and military targets, and uses that are not proportional to the military necessity of the attack. It is not clear, how- ever, that these rules apply to all of the states that are currently developing LAWS. Additionally, it is unclear who would be held responsible if a LAWS did violate international weapons law. These areas of uncertainty require a multilateral treaty to be sufficiently addressed. This Note proposes a multilateral treaty that aims to regulate the development and use of LAWS. The treaty must include articles on distinction and proportionality, as well as an article that creates avenues for holding multiple actors accountability for the unlawful actions of LAWS. Draft language for each of these articles has been provided. The treaty should also create a body capable of monitoring compliance with the LAWS convention based on the Universal Periodic Review conducted by the Human Rights Council, or, alternatively, modeled after the Chemical Weapons Convention.
- Subjects
LETHAL autonomous weapons; MILITARY weapons (International law); TREATIES; MILITARY technology; PROPORTIONALITY in law; UNITED Nations Human Rights Council; CONVENTION on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, &; Use of Chemical Weapons &; on Their Destruction (1993); LAW
- Publication
George Washington Law Review, 2014, Vol 83, Issue 1, p176
- ISSN
0016-8076
- Publication type
Article