UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed concern on September 7 regarding reports of fully autonomous drones being used in Ukraine that are capable of killing without human intervention. Addressing the UN Human Rights Council, Türk stated that he was “horrified by reports that fully autonomous drones, launched by the Russian Federation, killed three Ukrainians last month.” At the same time, he noted reports that Ukraine has also conducted field tests of such weapons.
Incident details and calls for regulation
According to The New York Times in August, a Russian drone fully controlled by an artificial intelligence system killed three civilians in Zaporizhzhia on July 6. Operators programmed the device to move toward a specific gas station, but the drone independently selected the precise target—reportedly propane tanks—without human intervention.
These reports have increased pressure from international and non-governmental organizations calling for the regulation of so-called lethal autonomous weapons, often referred to as “killer robots.”
In August, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Mirjana Spoljaric issued a joint call to restrict the use of such weapons. They warned that the world is “dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: the autonomous targeting of humans by machines.”
On September 7, Volker Türk called for an urgent ban on weapons capable of taking human life without human intervention.
Following years of discussion, 128 countries at the UN agreed on a definition of autonomous weapons on September 5. Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations have accused the United States and Russia, among others, of attempting to weaken the agreed-upon text.
In November, countries are expected to decide whether to begin formal negotiations on a treaty to regulate autonomous weapons.
Source: The Straits Times
