Many delegations this week stressed the importance of legal reviews of autonomous weapons. The ICRC welcomes the wide recognition of the need to carry out thorough legal reviews of the new technologies of warfare they are developing or acquiring, including weapons that have autonomy in their critical functions.
Such legal review must determine whether weapons with autonomy in their critical functions are capable of being used, in some or all circumstances (to use the terms of Article 36 of Additional Protocol I) in accordance with international humanitarian law. They must also take into account the compatibility of the weapon with the principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience (the “Martens Clause”).
In the context of discussions in the framework of the CCW, we encourage States to be as transparent as possible in sharing national experiences of legal reviews of weapons with autonomous features. Lessons from the review of autonomy in existing weapons could provide a guiding framework for legal reviews of weapons with increasing levels of autonomy in their critical functions.
At the same time, it is clear that the issues and questions raised by autonomous weapon systems cannot be addressed solely through national processes. Multilateral discussions, such as those that have taken place here, must continue in order to address the issues identified this week.
ICRC statement to concluding session (CCW Expert Meeting on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, 16 May 2014)
