Geneva Haggling, arguing, dissuading: the talks about killer robots at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva drag on for more than seven years. The representatives of dozen states have not yet agreed on the decisive step: to begin negotiations on a ban on “deadly autonomous weapon systems”.
The major military powers USA and Russia are primarily responsible for the standstill. They are blocking a legally binding ban on killer robots. “The best way to make progress is through a non-binding code of conduct,” said US Government Representative Joshua Dorosin in the run-up to the conference. In the slipstream of the USA and Russia are other countries such as Israel, which consider autonomous weapons systems to be essential for their military.
On the other hand, Austria, Ireland and Mexico in particular insist on a ban on killer robots. The new German federal government also makes it clear: “We reject lethal autonomous weapon systems that are completely withdrawn from human disposal,” says the traffic light coalition agreement. “We are actively promoting their international ostracism.”
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Peace activists also demand the outlawing of eerie instruments that can kill independently and without human intervention – and thus revolutionize warfare. But negotiators again do not expect any steps towards a binding ban on killer robots at the UN conference – because of the blockade of the USA and other countries. At most, the conference could decide on further deliberations – that would turn the talks into a farce.
But it would work without the brakes. “If nothing decisive in the direction of a binding ban comes around at the Geneva talks, the declared opponents of the killer robots could start negotiations on bans outside the convention on conventional weapons,” explains Thomas Küchenmeister from the international campaign to ban killer robots.
Treaty banning cluster munitions could serve as a model
The 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions could serve as a model for an agreement on killer robots. For years, the Americans and Russians had hampered negotiations on insidious weapons in traditional UN disarmament bodies.
This angered Norway and other opponents of the cluster bombs so much that they initiated a process outside the UN, excluding the US and Russia. In the end there was a binding prohibition treaty for cluster munitions.
Artificial intelligence forms the basis for the weapon systems.
(Photo: Reuters)
Why should the states now ban killer robots? UN Secretary-General António Guterres answered this question with particular vigor: “Autonomous machines that select targets and destroy life without human intervention are politically unacceptable and morally repugnant.” The International Committee of the Red Cross makes it clear: decisions “about life and death on the.” Battlefield may not be transferred to machines ”.
In the opinion of the critics, killer robots open the door to increasingly brutal warfare. Moral action, the distinction between good and bad, the assessment of the consequences of certain actions, responsibility for one’s own actions, proportionality, all of that would disappear. Activist Küchenmeister also emphasizes: “It is to be feared that the availability of autonomous combat robots alone will considerably increase the likelihood of armed conflicts.”
Artificial intelligence forms the basis for the weapon systems
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch lists the USA, Great Britain, China, Israel, Russia and South Korea as the states that have come very far in the development of the killer robots. The Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in Stockholm reported at least 381 autonomous systems for defense purposes in 2017.
Artificial intelligence forms the basis for the weapon systems. They serve to protect military or civil facilities such as nuclear facilities. South Korea has the border with North Korea monitored by autonomous weapons systems. Mobile systems set themselves in motion or they are set in motion.
The Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which offers the “Trophy” anti-tank system, is considered a leading supplier. The Elbit company, also from Israel, presented the “Arcas” system in September, which transforms assault rifles into digitally networked combat machines.
“Loitering” ammunition is also counted among the autonomous weapon systems. The German Armed Forces Association writes, referring to the specialist magazine “Soldat & Technik”: It is about unmanned flying systems with a steering function, “which can be started without precise target coordinates on suspicion and then circle over a target area for a long time until a worthwhile one Target is discovered and fought ”.
Such systems were used in Nagorno-Karabakh
The experts from “Soldat & Technik” are very impressed by the system: “The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has shown that loitering ammunition can make a significant contribution to success on the battlefield.” The German defense industry has the potential of the so-called kamikaze -Drones detected.
An inquiry about developments and the market volume of autonomous weapon systems at the European armaments manufacturer KNDS initially remained unanswered. The Düsseldorf-based company Rheinmetall, on the other hand, made a commitment: “Rheinmetall is convinced that people must retain decision-making power in the event of the use of weapons, and therefore rejects lethal autonomous weapon systems that deprive people of the decision to use weapons against people.” an international UN ban on weapons systems would have no impact on Rheinmetall.
But what is the value of a pact against killer robots that the US and other powers with autonomous weapons do not subscribe to? Not a big one. A prohibition treaty could at best exert moral pressure on states with weapons of the new dimension – too little to stop the killer robots.
More: Ex-software chief of the Pentagon: “We are at war with China – we just don’t know it yet”