mywilpf
Donate

Celebrating Feminists’ Voices, Inspiring Global Peace

Back to all news

Discussing Killer Robots at the Human Right Council

1 July 2014

Since the first UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions report addressing autonomous weapons was published in April 2013, much of the debate has focused on these weapons’ potential role in armed conflict, raising questions over whether the weapons would be able to comply with international humanitarian law (IHL) and respect human rights. During the expert meeting at the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in May 2014, specialists in the fields of robotics, law, and philosophy expressed their doubts about the prospect that fully autonomous weapons will ever possess human qualities, such as judgment, that facilitate compliance with human rights or IHL. Such weapons would also undermine human dignity, asinanimate machines could not understand or respect the value of life, yet would have the power to determine when to take it away.

In the past months, an increased concern and focus on the possible consequences on human rights of the development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons also outside conflict situations have taken shape.

Killer Robots in law-enforcement situations

At the side event organized by WILPF, hosted on behalf of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, Professor Heyns stressed the need to comprehensively discuss increased autonomy in weaponry systems. He suggested enlarging the debate in order to address all possible situations in which the use of force could be decided by machines. In this sense, the discourse over the relevance of international human rights law (IHRL) should be framed in a continuum from fully autonomous lethal weapons in and outside conflicts to less-lethal autonomous weapons to be used in law-enforcement contexts (deploying weapons such as tear gas or electrical shock).

Campaign to Stop Killer Robots

According to Heyns, IHRL could fill the gap in three possible situations in which IHL does not apply. In conflict, IHRL addresses the demands for the right to dignity, including those of combatants. Second, in law enforcement contexts, the right to security responds to the threat caused by the use of less-lethal weapons. Finally, IHRL is relevant to all those situations under the threshold of armed conflict, such as counter-terrorism operations.

The prevention of human rights violations lies within the mandate of the HRC and therefore it is a relevant forum to evaluate the compatibility of the development, production and use of these weapons with Human Rights. Other fora would have to take this resolution into account and regulate consequently. If killer robots are incompatible with human rights, other fora will have to proceed to its banning.

States’ responses

Also speaking at WILPF’s side event, Kathleen Lawand from the International Committee of the Red Cross remarked that the advent of these weapons will have profound implications for humanity. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the HRC to respond to both present and future threats to all human rights.

However, out of the 32 states taking the floor during the general debate following Heyns’ presentation, only nine speakers (Australia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Pakistan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and United States) referred to autonomous weapons systems in their statements.

Cuba welcomed the attention the Special Rapporteur attributed to the broad issue of autonomous weapons systems and Brazil, the OIC, and Pakistan agreed that the Council should remain seized with the issue, in accordance with Heyns’ recommendation.

Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, on the other hand, argued that autonomous weapons as well as other weapons issues should be confined to the UN disarmament fora, such as the CCW. Both China and Russia expressed their interest in the discussions, but did not specify their positions on the matter of forum.

Future discussions

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots believes that there must not be any weapons without meaningful human control and an international prohibition on fully autonomous weapons is the most practical way to ensure this end.

On 26 June, the Human Right Council approved the renewal of Heynes’ mandate for another three years. We hope his attention for killer robots will continue, given that the mandate explicitly calls for him to “continue to examine situations … where early action might prevent further deterioration.”

We believe that lawfulness of weapons is to be addressed by all the existing bodies of law. For this reason, WILPF and the Campaign call on the HRC to take action to ensure that the consequences on human rights of the development and use of fully autonomous weapons is taken into account. We encourage all delegations to support a renewed mandate in November for the CCW to create a formal Group of Government Experts on this topic in 2015, with a view to future negotiations of a new protocol.

 

 

Share the post

Your donation isn’t just a financial transaction; it’s a step toward a more compassionate and equitable world. With your support, we’re poised to achieve lasting change that echoes through generations. Thank you!

Thank you!

Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris facilisis luctus rhoncus. Praesent eget tellus sit amet enim consectetur condimentum et vel ante. Nulla facilisi. Suspendisse et nunc sem. Vivamus ullamcorper vestibulum neque, a interdum nisl accumsan ac. Cras ut condimentum turpis. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Curabitur efficitur gravida ipsum, quis ultricies erat iaculis pellentesque. Nulla congue iaculis feugiat. Suspendisse euismod congue ultricies. Sed blandit neque in libero ultricies aliquam. Donec euismod eget diam vitae vehicula. Fusce hendrerit purus leo. Aenean malesuada, ante eu aliquet mollis, diam erat suscipit eros, in.

Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

Skip to content