Autonomous Weapons Systems pose grave dangers to civilians worldwide. These weapon systems rely on artificial intelligence to select and engage targets with force, removing human agency from the process of killing. They disconnect, disempower and dislocate humans from the use of force, and treat people as numbers.
Since 2013, international discussions have taken place to establish new international law to prohibit and regulate these weapons. Already, over 100 states, the UN Secretary General, the International Committee of the Red Cross, experts in technology and artificial intelligence and social movements worldwide have demanded that a new treaty be negotiated.
However, these weapons are already being used and are proliferating exponentially. In 2023, Israel launched a genocidal assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza, deploying autonomous weapons systems to target and kill civilians en masse. Highly militarized states continue to invest heavily in the development and production of Autonomous Weapons Systems, using states in the Global South as testing grounds, and widening existing disparities in military power.
Relying on data to operate, these systems collect information on individuals such as their face shape, location, relationships and other bio data, without the target being aware. This process has highly concerning implications of our privacy, and is likely to entrench existing biases against marginalized and historically oppressed communities.
The Civilian Agenda advocates for the urgent negotiation of a legally binding treaty, and for an international moratorium on the development and use of Autonomous Weapons Systems until clear limits have been established.