CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

CYIL 14 (2023) AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW… In the case of fully autonomous weapons, it will always depend on where and how they are used. To some extent, the use of fully autonomous systems can be compared to mines . In the sense that once the mines are deployed, they operate independently mostly without the intervention of the soldiers who installed them. Reference may be made to the 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 of 1980 33 and Protocol No. II to this Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and Their Destruction (Anti Personnel Mine Ban Convention) and the Appendix to Protocol II of 1996. Regarding the legal regulation of the use of autonomous weapons in armed conflict, one consideration is to adopt a new protocol to the 1980 Convention. According to Article 4(2), of Protocol No. II, the use of mines is prohibited in any town, village or other area having a similar concentration of civilian population, in which combat between ground forces is not in progress or in imminent danger, unless they are a) located in a military objective or in its immediate vicinity, which belongs to the other party or is under its control, or b) no measures have been taken to protect civilians from their effects. According to No. 3, Paragraph 8 of the 1996 Amendment, the indiscriminate use of these weapons is prohibited. Non-discriminatory use of weapons is considered to be use a) which is not aimed at a military target or directed against it, b) which uses a method or such carriers that cannot be aimed at a specific military target, c) which may accidentally cause injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or combinations thereof that would be disproportionate in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage expected. Furthermore, according to Article 3(9), clearly separated military objects located in a city or in an area with a concentration of civilians or civilian objects are not considered as one civilian object. Article 51 of Additional Protocol I from 1977 contains similar legislation. According to this article, indiscriminate attacks are prohibited . Indiscriminate attacks include: a) attacks that are not aimed at specific military objects; (b) attacks using methods or means of warfare which cannot be directed at specific military objects , or (c) attacks using methods or means of warfare whose effects cannot be limited as required by this Protocol, so that in each in such a case, military objects as well as civilians or objects of a civilian nature are affected without distinction . Demonstratively, in Article 51(5), the following types of attacks are listed as indiscriminate: a) bombing attacks, regardless of the methods or means used, in which a number of clearly separated and distinguishable military objects located in a city, village or other areas in which civilians or civilian objects are concentrated, and b) attacks that can be expected to cause loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination of these cases, which would exceed the expected specific and direct military advantage. In addition, Article 3(10) of the 1996 Amendment requires states to take all feasible measures to protect civilians from the effects of weapons. One can imagine cases where the use of fully autonomous weapons would be in accordance with IHL . For example, 33 United Nations, 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 (and Protocols) (As Amended on 21 December 2001), 10 October 1980, 1342 UNTS 137. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/ docid/3ae6b3ac4.html [accessed 15 May 2023].

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