The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Chairman of the International Committee of the Red Cross have once again called on countries to establish rules governing autonomous weapons systems.
UN Secretary-General Guterres and the President of the International Red Cross, Spoliatrich, issued a joint appeal on August 25, urging countries to promptly adopt new international rules regulating autonomous weapon systems. This is another joint statement on this issue by both parties following the 2023 call for specific prohibitions and restrictions. The joint appeal noted that the rapid development of artificial intelligence and robotics is widening the gap between technical capabilities and regulatory constraints, and autonomous weapon systems are no longer a distant prospect. Such systems could undermine humanity’s control over the use of force and increase the risk of harm or damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure. Both parties believe that countries have made significant progress through the work of the United Nations General Assembly and the Group of Governmental Experts on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons on maintaining necessary human judgment and control, compliance with international humanitarian law, and addressing ethical concerns. Now, it is time to move from gradual discussions to negotiations. Both parties have previously advocated for the establishment of legally binding international instruments to prohibit weapon systems that make it difficult to predict and allow humans to choose targets for attack, as well as to regulate the location, duration, and other aspects of the use of other autonomous weapons.