The UAB participates in a group of UN experts on the danger of autonomous weapons

Dr Roser Martinez Quirante (author of Armas: libertad americana o prevención europea) and Dr Joaquín Rodríguez (author of La civilización ausente), professors at the Faculty of Law and at the School of Prevention and Security (EPSI), and as members of the ICRAC (International Committee for Robot Arms Control) recently participated in the “Group of Governmental Experts of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW on Lethal Autonomous Weapons systems” organised by the United Nations in Geneva. They also met with delegations from different countries and members of the campaign “Stop Killer Robots”, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, PAX and the International Red Cross.

The objective of the United Nations' meeting is to analyse the challenges posed by Lethal Autonomous Weapons and set down the definitions which can help to structure an international regulations framework for this dangerous emerging technology. Among the issues discussed throughout this week one of the key points was the need to have "Meaningful human control” in the execution and validation processes with the aim of preventing autonomous systems to take lethal decisions in a completely independent manner.

Talks will resume in August and November of this year, at a moment in which there will be a renovation in the group's directing team with the aim of advancing towards the creation of an international treaty on the subject. Currently there are 28 states giving suppport to the establishment of binding legally restrictive measures, and there was a pleasant surprise this week when China changed its position and finally voted in favour of measures to prevent the development of these types of weapons.