Having regard to the ethical dimension in the first place, we also recall that the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack are the fundamental rules and principles of international humanitarian law. They reflect efforts made by the international community to introduce effective legal limits on the conduct of hostilities.
Future autonomous weapons systems would be gradually assigned more complicated tasks and deployed in changing and more complex environment than has been the case until now.
That is why we should work effectively on strengthening existing regulations like article 36 on the requirement to conduct the legal reviews of all new weapons as well as on establishing principles and limits for autonomy in weapons systems because only humans, equipped with ethical reasoning, can be held accountable for decisions to use force.
Statement by Poland under agenda item 6(b): Further consideration of the human element (11 April 2018)
