CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

CYIL 14 (2023) AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW… paper is thus focused on semi-autonomous weapon systems. Considerations regarding fully automatic weapon systems are explicitly mentioned in the text. 2. International humanitarian law and autonomous weapon systems The possibility of using autonomous weapons is in international as well as internal armed conflicts. In this context, the question arises, in particular, the use of autonomous weapon systems in accordance with international humanitarian law or to prohibit them completely . Currently, there is no special international legal regulation on the basis of which autonomous weapons have been prohibited per se , nor has their use in armed conflicts been regulated . A complete ban on autonomous weapons does not seem to be realistic . According to some opinions, 17 it is unrealistic to expect the world’s major powers to ban them completely. An example would be conventions that completely ban certain conventional weapons. These are the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines (Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction) and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. These conventions have not been ratified by the largest owners of these weapons (USA, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, etc.). Even if there was a complete ban on autonomous weapons systems, states could interpret the ban too narrowly, allowing the development of other autonomous systems, or they could violate the ban by trying to avoid detection. 18 Therefore, it is more realistic not to completely ban them , but to regulate the use of autonomous weapon systems in armed conflicts by the rules of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The above states that are not parties to the 1997 Convention on the Complete Ban of Anti-Personnel Mines. 19 But the above-mentioned states are parties to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects , 20 which prohibits, under Protocol II to the Convention, certain uses mines, so it is not a complete ban. When considering the use of autonomous weapons systems, it is necessary to take into account the existing rules of IHL, which regulate the use of weapons in armed conflicts in general. 21 The rules of international humanitarian law establish obligations for human combatants in the use of weapons in an attack, and it is the combatants who are both responsible for 17 Ibid. p. 1317. 18 Ibid. 19 UNO, Treaty Series, vol. 2056, p. 211; C.N.163.2003 TREATIES-2 of 3 March 2003, and C.N.270.2003. TREATIES-4 of 7 April 2003. Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 18 September 1997. In: ICRC IHL Databases. Available at: https:// ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/apmbc/state-parties?activeTab=default [accessed 04. 08. 2023]. 20 UN, A/CONF.95/15, 27 octobre 1980, Annex I Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects. Geneva, 10 October 1980. In: ICRC IHL Databases. Available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/ccw-1980/ state-parties?activeTab=default [accessed 04. 08. 2023]. 21 the list of the international treaties regulating the use of weapons in armed conflicts can be found in the section Methods and Means of Warefare in IHL Database, Treaties and State Parties. Avaiblabe at: https://ihl-databases.icrc. org/en/ihl-treaties/treaties-and-states-parties [accessed 04. 08. 2023].

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