Autonomous weapons systems present numerous risks to humanity, most of which infringe on fundamental obligations and principles of international human rights law. Such systems select and engage targets based on sensor processing rather than human inputs. The threats they pose are far reaching because of their expected use in law enforcement operations as well as during armed conflict. Given that international human rights law applies during both peacetime and wartime, it covers all circumstances relevant to the use and development of autonomous weapons systems.

This report examines how autonomous weapons systems contravene different human rights obligations and principles. It builds on the 2014 publication by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) entitled Shaking the Foundations: The Human Rights Implications of Killer Robots and expands upon it to address three additional rights obligations and principles.

Report by the Human Rights Watch