Autonomous Weapons Systems: A Paradigm Shift for the Law of Armed Conflict?
J.D. Ohlin (ed.), Research Handbook on Remote Warfare, Edward Elgar, pp 371–404, 2018
Posted: 29 Apr 2020
Date Written: 2017
Abstract
The chapter critically examines the status of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) from a legal and ethical perspective and assesses whether the development of AWS is to be considered a paradigm shift for international law given the challenges their deployment pose to our traditional understanding of legal arrangements concerning responsibility and accountability, human rights, and the laws of armed conflict. In particular regarding the latter, the chapter asks whether traditional international humanitarian law, as a body of rules conceived with human addressees in mind, is suitable for the conduct of AWS at all.
Keywords: AWS, LAWS, Autonomous Weapons Systems, International Humanitarian Law, Laws of Armed Conflict, Accountability, Human Dignity, Meaningful Human Control, Principle of Distinction, Proportionality, State Responsibility
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