Ensuring Compliance of Autonomous Weapons System (AWS) with IHL: Navigating Legal Constraints and Optimization Challenges
Abstract
This article, titled "Ensuring Compliance of Autonomous Weapons System (AWS) with IHL: Navigating Legal Constraints and Optimization Challenges," explores the intersection of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL). With the rise of AWS in modern warfare, ensuring their compliance with IHL is crucial. The article addresses key questions: What legal constraints does IHL impose on AWS? What optimization challenges must be overcome to ensure compliance? How can policymakers and military developers navigate these issues? The article analyzes documents, ICRC Comments, Reports and existing literature using a qualitative, library-based research methodology. Findings reveal significant legal constraints related to accountability, proportionality, and distinction, alongside technical and ethical optimization challenges. The article concludes with recommendations for robust human oversight and clear legal frameworks to ensure AWS compliance with IHL, contributing valuable insights to the ongoing discourse on AWS regulation
Downloads
References
Rogers, C. The Development of Gunpowder Weapons in Europe. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2004. p. 12.
Singer, P. W. (2009). Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. Penguin, p. 1- 10. (accessed on 10/7/2024)
Schmitt, M. N., & Thurnher, J. S. "Out of the Loop: Autonomous Weapon Systems and the Law of Armed Conflict," Harvard National Security Journal, 4, 2013. p. 234-35. (accessed on 10/7/2024)
Arkin, R. Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots. CRC Press, 2009. p. 45. <https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~illah/CLASSDOCS/Arkin.pdf> (accessed on 10/7/2024)
Russell, S., & Norvig, P. Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (4th ed.). United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited, 2021. p. 301. <https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400. 9781292401171_A41586057/ preview-9781292401171_A41586057.pdf> (accessed on 10/07/2024)
Asaro, P. "On Banning Autonomous Weapon Systems: Human Rights, Automation, and the Dehumanization of Lethal Decision-Making," International Review of the Red Cross, 94(886), 2012. p. 692. (accessed on 10/7/2024)
Sparrow R., ‘Killer robots’, in Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2007, pp. 62–77.
Noel S., ‘Death strikes from the sky: the calculus of proportionality’, in IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2009, pp. 16–19.
Crootof, R. "The Killer Robots Are Here: Legal and Policy Implications," Cardozo Law Review, 36(1), (2015). p. 1872. <https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2605&context=law-faculty-publications> (accessed on 10/7/2024)
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. Perspectives on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems. United Nations. 2017. Available at https://www.un.org/disarmament/publications/more/perspectives-on-lethal-autonomous-weapons-systems/ (accessed on 10/7/2024)
Heyns, C. "Autonomous Weapons in Armed Conflict and the Right to a Dignified Life: An African Perspective," South African: Journal on Human Rights, 32(1), 2016. p. 50.
Heyns C., Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions in A/HRC/23/47, 9 April 2013, available online <http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/ RegularSession/Session23/A-HRC-23-47_en.pdf> (accessed at 6/03/2024.)
Russell S., Autonomous Weapons: An o pen letter from AI & Robotics researchers. Future of Life Institute, July 28 2015, <https://futureoflife.org/open- letter- autonomous-weapons.> (accessed 6/03/2024.)
Solovyeva A., & Hynek N., 'Going Beyond the 'Killer Robots' Debate: Six Dilemmas Autonomous Weapon Systems Raise' in Central European Journal of International and Security Studies 12, No. 2: 166-208., 2018, p.190.
Chengeta, T. The challenges of increased autonomy in weapons: in search of appropriate legal solution, LLD: University of Pretoria, 2015, p.7.
Asaro, P. "On Banning Autonomous Weapon Systems: Human Rights, Automation, and the Dehumanization of Lethal Decision-Making," International Review of the Red Cross, 94(886), 2012.p.692.(accessed on 10/7/2024).
Sharkey, N. “Saying 'No!' to Lethal Autonomous Targeting', Journal of Military Ethics, 9(4), 2010, p. 369-83.
Articles 51 and 57 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions address the protection of the civilian population and precautions in attack. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977, 1125 UNTS 3 (entered into force 7 December 1978), available at <http://www2. ohchr.org/english/law/protocol1_2.htm> (accessed on 10/7/2024)
Schmitt, M. N. 'Autonomous Weapon Systems and International Humanitarian Law: A Reply to the Critics', Harvard National Security Journal Features, 2013, pp. 4-6.
Ibid. p. 13.
Geneva Conventions Relation to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War of 1949.
Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relations to the protection of victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1) of 1977.
Rebecca C., The Killer Robots Are Here: Legal and Policy Implications, 36 Cardozo L. Rev. 1837,
, P. 1840.
See, for example, ICRC (2015) Statement to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Meeting of Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), 13-17 April 2015, Geneva, <https://www.icrc.org/en/document/lethal-autonomous-weapons-systems LAWS; > Future of Life Institute, Autonomous Weapons: an Open Letter from AI & Robotics Researchers. International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 28 July 2015, <https://futureoflife.org/open-letter autonomous-weapons;> and Future of Life Institute (2017), An Open Letter to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 21 August 2017, <https://futureoflife.org/autonomous-weapons> open-letter-2017. (accessed on 6/03/2024)
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Perspectives on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, United Nations, 2017. < https://disarmament.unoda.org/publications/library/> (accessed on 6/03/2024)
Boulanin, V., & Verbruggen, M. 'Mapping the Development of Autonomy in Weapon Systems', SIPRI, 2017, p. 16.
Scharre, P. Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War. W.W. Norton & Company, 2018, p. 45.
Arkin, R. C. Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots. ICRC Press, 2009, p. 78.
Asaro, P. M. "On Banning Autonomous Weapon Systems: Human Rights, Automation, and the Dehumanization of Lethal Decision-making." International Review of the Red Cross, 94(886), 687-709, 2012, p. 395.
Singer, P. W. Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century. Penguin,2009, p. 123.
Park, S. "Guard Robots along the Korean Demilitarized Zone." Asian Survey, 51(2), 304-328,2011, p. 72.
Bendett, S. "Russian Ground Robots in Syria: A Reality Check." War on the Rocks,2018, p. 5.
Henckaerts, J. M., & Doswald-Beck, L. Customary International Humanitarian Law: Volume I: Rules. Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 3.
Sassòli, M. International Humanitarian Law: Rules, Controversies, and Solutions to Problems Arising in Warfare. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019, p. 415.
Schmitt, M. N. "Military Necessity and Humanity in International Humanitarian Law: Preserving the Delicate Balance." Virginia Journal of International Law, 50(4), 795-839, 2011, p. 92.
Forsythe, D. P. The Humanitarians: The International Committee of the Red Cross. Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 38.
Best, G. Humanity in Warfare: The Modern History of the International Law of Armed Conflicts. Routledge, 1983, p. 34.
Dinstein, Y. The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict. Cambridge University Press,2016, p. 15.
ICRC. (2019). "Autonomous Weapon Systems: Implications of Increasing Autonomy in the Critical Functions of Weapons." ICRC Report, p. 15, 17.
Saxon, D. Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Humanitarian Law: Living up to the Challenges. Routledge, 2019, p. 224.
Marta B, Bruun L, and Boulanin V., “Retaining Human Responsibility in the Development and Use of Autonomous Weapon Systems: On Accountability for Violations of International Humanitarian Law Involving AWS.” United Kingdom: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 2022, pp. 24-34.
Crootof, R. "The Killer Robots Are Here: Legal and Policy Implications." Cardozo Law Review, 36(5), 1837-1915, 2015, p. 1391.
Asaro, P. M., “On Banning Autonomous Weapon Systems: Human Rights, Automation, and the Dehumanization of Lethal Decision-making." International Review of the Red Cross, 94(886), 687-709,2012, p. 395.
ICRC. "Autonomous Weapon Systems: Implications of Increasing Autonomy in the Critical Functions of Weapons." ICRC Report, 2019, p. 17.
Boulanin, V., & Verbruggen, M., "Mapping the Development of Autonomy in Weapon Systems." SIPRI Report,2017, p. 48.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “Autonomous Weapon Systems: Implications of Increasing Autonomy in the Critical Functions of Weapons,” ICRC Report, April 2021, available at ICRC Website < https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/icrc-position-on-autonomous-weapon-systems-icrc-position-and-background-paper-915> (Accessed on 13/08/2024)
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “The Principle of Distinction: Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict,” ICRC Commentary, July 2019, available at ICRC Website< https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2/rule1> (Accessed on 13/08/2024)
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “Proportionality in Armed Conflict: A Key Principle Under International Humanitarian Law,” ICRC Commentary, September 2020, available at ICRC Website. <https://www.icrc.org/en/document/international-expert-meeting-report-principle-proportionality> (Accessed on 13/08/2024)
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “Ethics and Autonomous Weapon Systems: An Ethical Basis for Human Control?” ICRC Report, November 2018, available at <https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/document/file_list/icrc_ethics_and_autonomous_weapon_systems_report_3_april_2018.pdf> (Accessed on 13/08/2024)
Copyright (c) 2024 Jackson Marwa Oringa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
