Robots

Stop the Killer Robots: HRW demands ban on fully-autonomous weapons ahead of UN conference

Human Rights Watch is highlighting the dangers of killer robots and calling for a ban on the fully-autonomous weapons ahead of a fifth UN weapons review conference in Geneva next week.

The organization has published a report Making the Case: The Dangers of Killer Robots and the Need for a Preemptive Ban, ahead of the Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), beginning December 12.

The CCW is made up of 121 countries, which will decide by consensus on December 16 whether deliberations on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) will continue in 2017 and, if so, how these talks will progress.

Fully-autonomous weapons can independently seek, identify and attack targets. The HRW has voiced concern that some of the member countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, Russia, and South Korea are developing weapons systems with growing levels of autonomy.