… with regard to legal reviews, there appears to be consensus that autonomous weapon systems qualify as weapons in the sense of Article 36 of Additional Protocol 1 and are the subject to a new weapons review process like any other weapon. In this regard, I would simply like to refer to the working paper submitted by the Netherlands and Switzerland for the more general consideration on the process of weapons reviews, and especially also for the recommendations contained therein.
In your paper, you posed the question of how autonomous weapons systems fit into existing national review and it has been stated that autonomous systems, which feature autonomy in the targeting cycle, may pose specific challenges to the reviewer. In our view, such specific challenges for the reviewer will be, on the one hand, the typical characteristics of autonomous weapon systems and, on the other hand — since it is likely that such weapons will often not totally rely on its own with regard to sensors, and so on — its functions and cooperation, communication within a network of other already existing systems. The embedding of autonomous weapons into a network of already existing systems will raise the question whether and how far these systems, who might not be regarded as weapons themselves and thus may not have been reviewed in this context, may affect its suitability to respect of the law.
Statement by Switzerland (15 November 2017) PM, 1:31:46
