Kathmandu— In a joint appeal, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC), have warned that humanity is dangerously close to crossing a moral red line with autonomous weapons targeting humans. They called for prohibiting unpredictable autonomous weapons and anti-personnel weapons, emphasizing their political unacceptability and moral repugnance.
UN Position on Autonomous Weapons
Mélanie Régimbal, chief of disarmament affairs at UN Geneva, reiterated the UN’s stance that systems selecting or engaging targets without human control are politically unacceptable and should be prohibited under international law. This position underscores the need for human judgment in critical decisions involving lethal force.
ICRC's Concerns
Laurent Gisel, head of the arms and conduct of hostilities division at ICRC, highlighted the unpredictability of autonomous weapons systems, noting that variables such as combatants surrendering or civilians entering operational areas can lead to unintended consequences. He emphasized the difficulty in limiting these systems if their behavior cannot be predicted.
Civil Society Efforts
The Stop Killer Robots coalition, formed in 2012 and publicly launched in 2013, aims to foster a world that respects human dignity and holds accountable those responsible for technological choices. Despite these efforts, significant progress has been limited, with military establishments maintaining faith in autonomous systems.
Recent Conflicts and AI Use
During the Gaza War beginning on October 7, 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) used Lavender, an AI decision-support system, to generate thousands of targets. Similarly, in a joint attack on Iran by the US and Israel in February 2026, Palantir’s Maven Smart System integrated Anthropic’s Claude AI for target generation, leading to civilian casualties.
(With inputs from CounterPunch)
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Originally published on abcnews.com.np.
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