Negotiations on binding rules for autonomous weapon systems are still stuck. Non-governmental organizations criticize the German attitude.
Negotiations on a global ban on autonomous weapons systems are still making no progress. Last week in Geneva, another round of negotiations by the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) failed. After discussing limitations on the development and use of such weapon systems, government officials merely agreed to continue discussions. NGOs are now considering moving towards a binding ban in another international forum. They criticize the German attitude.
The UN conference reviewing the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) last negotiated the issue unsuccessfully in December. The topic has been discussed at the United Nations since around 2014, and in November 2017 government representatives met formally for the first time as an expert group within the CCW, also as a reaction to the founding of the “Stop Killer Robots” initiative.
Russia and the USA want to prevent a ban on autonomous weapon systems. The USA is relying on voluntary norms, Russia believes that international humanitarian law is sufficient to contain the new weapon systems. Such systems are less error-prone than human operators.
Nevertheless, last week in Geneva there were some substantive approaches, for example on controllability and legal principles for autonomous weapon systems. Those involved agreed that people must be able to stop an ongoing attack by such a weapon system, it said in Geneva. The parties remained at odds in particular about how binding new standards should be.
Federal government wants to mediate
Countries such as Argentina and Costa have presented a first draft of a possible binding new protocol outlawing autonomous weapon systems. Austria, Ireland and Switzerland support binding standards, while the USA, Japan and South Korea are committed to implementing applicable standards of international humanitarian law and responsible action when dealing with emerging new technologies.
According to its own statements, the German federal government is still committed to banning fully autonomous weapon systems. With its own proposal, tabled together with France and other EU countries, it has been trying since last summer to mediate between the camps through a “double approach in the UN Weapons Convention.” In it, fully autonomous weapon systems beyond human control are to be outlawed. Accordingly, they may not be developed, procured or used. The GGE works in a consensus-oriented manner, which is why the federal government has to deal with the considerable resistance of some member states, according to the Foreign Office.
The German attitude is not well received by the German Peace Society DFG-VK. “In the attempt to keep Russia and other highly militarized states on board, the other delegations are partly responsible for the years of deadlock in the negotiations,” criticizes Marius Pletsch from the German Peace Society DFG-VK, which is a member of the more than 180 member organizations Campaign “Stop Killer Robots” is. Russia is useful as a pretext for those states that have no ambitions of their own and are unwilling to come to a legally binding conclusion.
Try other levels
Pletsch added that the German delegation was falling short of its own claim of taking a clear stance against new weapon systems. The ban on lethal autonomous weapon systems is included in the coalition agreement of the current government. In the negotiations, however, the German delegation never really advocated a binding ban under international law.
Non-governmental organizations are now hoping that the ban on autonomous weapon systems will be negotiated more effectively elsewhere in the coming year. The Stop Killer Robots initiative is promoting progressive states to join forces to start negotiations in another forum, Pletsch explained. Examples of this are the Oslo process to ban cluster mines and the Ottawa conference on banning anti-personnel mines. After another failure in Geneva, the activists hope that this alternative process will get underway in the coming year.
(app)
