GENEVA (AP) — The United 
Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday ratcheted up a joint call for countries to adopt bans and restrictions on use of autonomous weapons systems — often known as “killer robots” — warning that “the risks have intensified.”
Building on an initial appeal three years ago and international talks on the issue for years, the appeal stops short of calling for a blanket ban, but notes that such weapons systems are being developed — though the UN and Red Cross haven’t confirmed their use on the battlefield.
The organizations said, however, that civilians need to be protected for when that day may come.
“We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: The autonomous targeting of humans by machines,” said UN Geneva spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci, reading a joint statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric.
“Today, we renew this call with even greater urgency,” the statement said. “The fundamental concerns remain unchanged, but the risks have intensified.”
The two international organizations say the development of weapons technology at “record speed” has strained the international rules system, and widened the gap between technological capacities and regulatory constraints.
“Autonomous weapons systems are not part of a distant future — a race toward greater autonomy in weapons systems is already well underway,” the joint statement said.
The call comes as negotiators are set to meet in Geneva in November on ways of strengthening the existing Convention on Conventional Weapons, with the UN and ICRC saying the conference “offers the clearest path available” to move toward binding legal rules on the use of such autonomous systems.
“Scientists and engineers developing these systems have themselves raised the alarm,” the organizations said. “When the architects of this technology are calling for limits, states cannot afford to remain passive.”
“This year must mark a turning point,” the statement said.