Chapter 4 Autonomy in the Battlespace: Independently Operating Weapon Systems and the Law of Armed Conflict

Abstract

International humanitarian law (IHL) is based and has the potential to alter fundamentally the perceptions of the law of armed conflict. The paper addresses this development in the context of the dehumanization of IHL. It retraces the history of autonomous weapons and differentiates future generations of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) from the current generation of weapons. The paper addresses the potential effect of AWS with respect to two cornerstones of IHL: the principle of distinction and the principle of proportionality. It argues that from a legal perspective, AWS can be employed only in the rarest of circumstances in light of the legal constraints inherent in these two principles. Thus, their potential deployment is limited to such an extent as to render them useless. Keywords:autonomous weapon systems (AWS); International humanitarian law (IHL); law of armed conflict; principle of distinction; principle of proportionality