August 3, 2021
2021 Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons 5 (a) An exploration of the potential challenges posed by emerging technologies in the area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems to IHL
August 3, 2021
This growing awareness represents a change in public perception, which is also a driving force behind the implementation and development of IHL. While autonomous weapons systems may be considered normal” in the statistical sense of the term and thus deemed acceptable, there are still behaviors that IHL prohibits, or that, although not explicitly prohibited, remain forbidden by the dictates of morality, by spiritual values, experience and soldierly virtues. Moreover, the end does not justify the means used to achieve it. In this regard, the Martens’ Clause, which is at the intersection of IHL and ethics, but more importantly represents a legal obligation enshrined in several IHL treaties, including in the CCW preamble, also offers a priori a crucial regulating compass for our work. How would autonomous weapons systems be able to respond to the principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience?