Letters to the Editor
Ban killer robots
Killer robots are one kind of autonomous weapons that could attack targets autonomously without a human pulling the trigger. It is heard that many countries are developing these weapons. Experts in warfare technologies warn that the world's leading military powers are moving so rapidly in this direction that a pre-emptive ban is essential.
A recent report of this daily says that drones or unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings. The report also informs that Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, will address the forthcoming UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and call for a worldwide moratorium on lethal autonomous robotics weapons systems that, once activated, can lock on and kill targets without further involvement of human handlers.
We express our solidarity with Christof Heyns because machines should not have life and death powers over humans.
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