Accountability Gap: Autonomous Weapon Systems and Modes of Responsibility in International Law
![handle is hein.journals/denilp45 and id is 7 raw text is:
ACCOUNTABILITY GAP: AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS AND
MODES OF RESPONSIBILITY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
*THOMPSON CHENGETA
If the nature of a weapon renders responsibility for its consequences im-
possible, its use should be considered unethical and unlawful as an ab-
horrent weapon.
I. INTRODUCTION
The development of unmanned systems that are remotely controlled and those
with increased autonomy in making the decision to target or kill humans has been a
worry to the international community for more than a decade now. The idea to de-
velop Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS)-machines that, once activated, are
able to make the decision to kill humans without further human intervention-has
sparked heated debates across the globe.2 The old adage, technology is a double-
edged sword' has never, in the history of weapons development, been more perti-
nent than it is with AWS. On the one hand, there are claims that AWS promise a
potential to save lives-to make a change to the unacceptable current state of af-
fairs in armed conflict and elsewhere-where force is used.4 On the other hand,
however, there are compelling reasons to believe that the deployment of AWS will
result in the violation of the right to life, dignity, and other important rights.5
* LL.D, University of Pretoria, LL.M., Harvard Law School, LL.M., University of Pretoria, LL.B.,
Midlands State University., Expert Member, International Committee for Robots Arms Control.
1. Christof Heyns (Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions),
GAOR, 1 80, U.N. Doe. A/HRC/23/47 (Apr. 9, 2013) [hereinafter Heyns, Extrajudicial, Summary or
Arbitrary Executions].
2. There is no internationally agreed definition of AWS. However, a large number of scholars
give the above definition. See, e.g., id 1 38. The report cites almost similar definitions provided by the
US Department of Defense and Human Rights Watch. U.S. Dep't of Def., Dir. 3000.09, Autonomy in
Weapon Systems, at 13 (Nov. 21, 2012), http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/300009p.pdf;
Bonnie Docherty, Losing Humanity: the Case Against Killer Robots 1, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (Nov.
19, 2012), https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/11/19/losing-humanity/case-against-killer-robots [hereinaf-
ter Docherty].
3. We have to realize that science is a double-edged sword. One edge of the sword can cut
against poverty, illness, disease and give us more democracies, and democracies never war with other
democracies, but the other side of the sword could give us nuclear proliferation, biogerms and even
forces of darkness. Michio Kaku Quotes, BRAINYQUOTE,
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/michiokaku574536.html (last visited Sept. 17, 2016).
4. See Ron Arkin, Lethal Autonomous Systems and the Plight of Non-combatant, GA. INST. OF
TECH., AISB Q., no. 137, at 2 (July 2013), https://unoda-web.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/wp-
co-
tent/uploads/assets/media/54B1 B7A6I6EAl DIOC 1257CCC00478A59/file/ArticleArkinLAWS.pdf.
5. See, e.g., Robert Sparrow, Robotic Weapons and the Future of War, in NEW WARS AND NEW
1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/denilp45&div=5&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Accountability Gap: Autonomous Weapon Systems and Modes of Responsibility in International Law
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most