Topic: Autonomous Weapon Systems
Country: New Zealand
Delegate Name: Courtney Larson
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All New Zealand position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
With advancing technology, it is now possible to eliminate the human element from war. Fully Autonomous Weapon Systems decide to fire without any command or instruction from people besides the coding and instructions programmed into the drone. Eliminating the human factor is dangerous for not only military personnel, but civilians as well. Currently, only autonomous weapon systems are being used as Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles, but if allowed to expand, particularly to land combat, the potential catastrophes are massive and lethal. Not only is there great danger in potential error within the computer, but the systems and drones could allow for wars without knowing who the enemy is. Fully autonomous drones have no need for any sort of communication with the country responsible for their existence after their launch. This allows for anonymous strikes. The stricken country would have minimal to no clue as to who attacked them. The people responsible could be on the other side of the globe. The very concept of that type of war is appealing to multiple nations. However, the autonomous weapons systems could lead to strikes, that could be aimed at civilian targets by any number of people or groups within or out of any government, that could lead to the deaths of masses of innocent civilians. Imagine if governments allowed this technology and it were to fall into the wrong hands, hands of those who do not care whether the people they are killing our civilians of our nations. This technology must be banned and eradicated before an accident can happen, as I'm positive it will. Nothing good can come from developing this technology and removing all oversight and control humans have over its ability to destroy.
Autonomous Weapon Systems are shrouded in uncertainty on whether or not they could detect targets that do not don uniforms. It could cause potential mass casualties for civilians, which concern International Human Rights laws in warfare. Due to this, New Zealand has taken a position to ban these weapons, as stated in the previous General Assembly Meeting on October 30, 2013. New Zealand is concerned with the risk of civilian safety that is threatened with the creation with these weapons. As stands, New Zealand will abide with the Human Rights laws in warfare. However, New Zealand has not taken affirmative action to ban Autonomous Weapon Systems. Within the government, we are reviewing our options to put forth a resolution.
As stated, the question is whether Autonomous Weapons are allowed under International Humanitarian Law. The General Assembly should come to a decision of whether or not these weapons break the law when considering of banning the weapons. However, the safety of innocent civilian lives should be our primary concern. Systems that do not attack, such as Surveillance Autonomous Drones, are not a major concern, but those that attack specific targets should be banned until it is confirmed that there will be no civilian casualties when using these drones.
