Weapons

Is arms control over emerging technologies just a peacetime luxury? Lessons learned from the First World War

Is arms control over emerging technologies just a peacetime luxury? Lessons learned from the First World War

January 18, 2019, History / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict / Weapons
Eric Germain

At the turn of the twentieth century, many engineers with fertile imaginations—from France’s Gustave Gabet ...

Machine autonomy and the constant care obligation

Machine autonomy and the constant care obligation

December 11, 2018, Autonomous Weapons / Conduct of Hostilities / Law and Conflict / New Technologies / Weapons
Chris Jenks & Rain Liivoja

The debate about the way the international community should deal with autonomous weapon systems has ...

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons one year on: Reflections from Hiroshima

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons one year on: Reflections from Hiroshima

September 20, 2018, Law and Conflict / Stories / Weapons
Helen Durham

Today marks one year since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was declared open for signature. Its adoption confirmed that a ...

The (im)possibility of meaningful human control for lethal autonomous weapon systems

The (im)possibility of meaningful human control for lethal autonomous weapon systems

August 29, 2018, Analysis / Autonomous Weapons / Law and Conflict / Weapons
Elke Schwarz

This week, the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) is ...

The impact of gender and race bias in AI

The impact of gender and race bias in AI

August 28, 2018, Analysis / Autonomous Weapons / Gender / Law and Conflict / Weapons
Noel Sharkey

Automated decision algorithms are currently propagating gender and race discrimination throughout our global community. The ...

Autonomous weapons and human control

Autonomous weapons and human control

July 18, 2018, Analysis / Autonomous Weapons / Conduct of Hostilities / Law and Conflict / Weapons
Tim McFarland

Concerns about ensuring sufficient human control over autonomous weapon systems (AWS) have been prominent since ...

New types of weapons need new forms of governance

New types of weapons need new forms of governance

June 28, 2018, Law and Conflict / New Technologies / Weapons
Richard Lennane

The existing national and international tools used to control the emergence and use of weapons that may contravene international humanitarian law (IHL) have ...

Human judgment and lethal decision-making in war

Human judgment and lethal decision-making in war

April 11, 2018, Analysis / Autonomous Weapons / Conduct of Hostilities / Law and Conflict / New Technologies / Weapons
Paul Scharre

For the fifth year in a row, government delegates meet at the United Nations in ...

Autonomous weapon systems: A threat to human dignity?

Autonomous weapon systems: A threat to human dignity?

April 10, 2018, Autonomous Weapons / Law and Conflict / New Technologies / Weapons
Ariadna Pop

In the opening scene of Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, six British soldiers, looking for food and ...

Autonomous weapon systems: An ethical basis for human control?

Autonomous weapon systems: An ethical basis for human control?

April 3, 2018, Autonomous Weapons / Law and Conflict / New Technologies / The most read blog posts in 2018 / Weapons
Neil Davison

The requirement for human control The risks of functionally delegating complex tasks—and associated decisions—to sensors ...

The legality of flamethrowers: Taking unnecessary suffering seriously

The legality of flamethrowers: Taking unnecessary suffering seriously

February 22, 2018, Analysis / Conduct of Hostilities / Law and Conflict / New Technologies / Weapons
Theo Boutruche

Outside the academics and experts’ circles, discussions around weapons commonly make the news in at ...

The prohibition of nuclear weapons: Assisting victims and remediating the environment

The prohibition of nuclear weapons: Assisting victims and remediating the environment

October 10, 2017, Analysis / Humanitarian Action / Law and Conflict / Weapons
Elizabeth Minor

States have agreed upon a treaty with humanitarian foundations that prohibits nuclear weapons. It contains ...