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United Nations disarmament chief Angela Kane stated this week (2 July) that “there is a widespread view” that weapons systems that have the capability of selecting and attacking targets without human intervention “must be subject to meaningful human control.”…

More than 20 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have endorsed a joint statement calling for a ban on weapons that would be able to select and attack targets without meaningful human control. The Laureates warn that lethal robots would "completely and forever change the face of war and likely spawn a new arms race" and ask, "Can humanity afford to follow such a path?" They express concern that "leaving the killing to machines might make going to war easier and shift the burden of armed conflict onto civilians." The Laureates urge public debate about the ethics and morality of autonomous weapons systems. They welcome the establishment of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and "whole-heartedly embrace its goal of a preemptive ban on fully autonomous weapons that would be able to select and attack targets on their own."

Concerns are increasing over the potential impact of fully autonomous weapons under human rights law, which applies during peacetime as well as armed conflict. Nations are expected to consider the matter at the next session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, which opens on 10 June. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is convening a briefing on "human rights, disarmament, and killer robots" at the UN on June 11 - see the Flyer.

At the first multilateral meeting ever held on killer robots, nations have recognized the need to confront the challenge of fully autonomous weapons that could select and attack targets without any human control. The call issued by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots for a pre-emptive ban on these fully autonomous weapons has become a central feature of the international debate.

12 May 2014 Geneva PRESS RELEASE: Time for international action on killer robots – Convention on Conventional Weapons experts meet on May 13-16 Nations should commit to begin drafting new international law to stop the development of fully…

The first multilateral talks on killer robots open at the United Nations in Geneva (UN) at 10:00 on Tuesday, 13 May. Many of the 117 states party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) are expected to attend the four-day meeting of experts on "lethal autonomous weapons systems" in addition to representatives from international and UN agencies, the ICRC, regional bodies, and registered non-governmental organizations. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots delegation includes three dozen experts, many of whom will be speaking in the formal meeting and at daily side events [PDF]. See our press release (12 May) and statement (13 May).

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and its concerns over the prospect of weapons systems that would be able to select and engage targets without meaningful human control features this week in a Newsweek Japan special edition on robotics. The issue comes as US President Barack Obama met with representatives from Japanese robotics companies and their robots during his visit to Japan in April 2014. He reportedly said of the experience, “We saw some truly amazing robots—although I have to say the robots were a little scary.”

Members of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots this week called on the government of Canada to support the creation of new international law to pre-emptive ban fully autonomous weapons or ‘killer robots’ as part of a new outreach…

On 10 April, the Irish launch of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots took place at at Trinity College Dublin with a  keynote address by Professor Noel Sharkey, chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, a founder of the global Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Afri—a peace and human rights organisation that opposes war and militarization—held the launch in association with the International Peace Studies Programme of the Irish School of Ecumenics. Other  organisations participating in the Irish Campaign to Stop Killer Robots include Amnesty International Ireland and Pax Christi Ireland.