UNA-UK welcomes the decision reached by states at the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) on 14 November to continue discussions on “lethal autonomous weapons systems”.
The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, of which UNA-UK is a member, commented that the decision, taken at the United Nations in Geneva, marks “an important acknowledgement of the legal, technical, ethical, operational, and societal concerns that have been raised. The broad consensus expressed for continuing the talks shows it is clear that ‘doing nothing’ in the face of ever-greater autonomy in warfare is not an option.”
The Campaign anticipates that the majority of the 118 states which are party to the Convention will participate in the informal talks on lethal autonomous weapons systems, set to take place at the UN in Geneva from 13-17 April 2015. The talks are expected to lead to plans for formal deliberations on the subject.
The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is an international coalition of non-governmental organisations calling for a pre-emptive ban on weapons which have the power to identify and attack targets without the need for human intervention.
