Topic: Autonomous Weapon Systems
Country: Belgium
Delegate Name: Chance Elliot
School: Grand Blanc High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Belgium position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Autonomous weapon systems are weapon systems that can acquire and eliminate targets without human interaction once it is activated. Systems such as these are feared for reasons that are easy to comprehend. Humans possess a set of morals that help them determine right from wrong. Autonomous weapons remove the human element from the battlefield. Taking a Human from pulling a trigger and replacing them with a robot causes speculation as to whether the system can operate on a level of the human consensus. The main benefit of taking the human element from the battlefield is that the country does not have to worry about losing the life of the individual it replaced, the life of a human is worth more than the weapon system.
The country of Belgium has recognized that this is an issue that is becoming more and more relevant in the world today. Belgium understands that the technological advances that we experience bring us closer to a world where autonomous systems performing actions of warfare is normal. For this reason we believe that we should be having in depth conversations about the implications of autonomous systems.
Our country wishes to explore the topic in depth in all fields such as law, operational, and technical. We believe that broad participation is required to ensure the future safety of populations affected by autonomous weapons. We would also like to recognize the humanitarian implications of autonomous weapons and not constrict the conversation to systems purely designed to kill for offensive purposes.
