CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ AUTONOMOUSWEAPONS SYSTEMS: LAW, ETHICS, POLICY the current stage of technological development, which entails a great deal of uncertainty, it seems only logical to focus on adopting appropriate standards for the weapon reviews and for the human control over AWS, which are necessary preconditions for the attribution of responsibility. The book is intended for readers who already possess at least some knowledge about the debate on AWS. If they do not, I would suggest reading at first some of the articles written by Christof Heyns, Peter Asaro, Noel Sharkey, Paul Scharre, Ronald Arkin or Michael Schmitt, or the earliest reports of Human Rights Watch on the topic for introduction. Even though fully functional AWS might not be developed in the near future, the research in military technology is undeniably moving towards greater autonomy. The states are increasingly deploying military technologies that allow them to remove their soldiers from the risk of imminent harm 3 and there is a number of defence systems with some level of autonomy over critical functions already in use. 4 This development inevitably calls for a broader international debate and for the adoption of new rules of international law or the adjusting of the current ones. The book offers a very insightful analysis of the challenges posed by AWS and the authors in various contributions present a range of suggestions on how to approach the further debate. As such, the book is highly informative not only for academics, but also for legal practitioners and policy drafters, especially among the military.

Ludmila Halajová *

3 Consider the use of unmanned combat aircraft systems, i. e. drones. 4 e.g. the US Navy Phalanx Close-In Weapons System, the UK Brimstone fire and forget missile system, the South Korean SGR-A1 system or the Israeli Harpy anti-radar missile system. * Mgr. Ludmila Halajová is a Ph.D. candidate at the Faculty of Law, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.

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