The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots launches this Tuesday, April 23, 2013 in London, England.
The campaign is an international coalition of non-governmental organizations advocating for a pre-emptive ban on fully autonomous weapons, also known as killer robots.
According to the campaign, “Fully autonomous weapons are already in development in several countries and could be deployed in the next 20 years. These weapons would select and attack targets without human intervention giving machines the power to decide who lives or dies on the battlefield and raise serious moral and legal concerns.”
As Inter Press Service notes, the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots “will follow in the footsteps of the highly-successful 1990s collective worldwide effort to ban anti-personnel landmines,” for which Laureate Jody Williams was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.
The six Nobel Peace Laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative strongly support the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, and the Initiative is a member of its steering committee. Williams will speak at the launch event on Tuesday, along with Professor Noel Sharkey, Chair of the International Committee on Robot Arms Control, and Steve Goose, Director of the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch.
Watch the Human Rights Watch video featuring footage of the campaign’s spokespersons:
LEARN MORE
Global Campaign to Ban Killer Robots Models Landmine Treaty, Inter Press Service, 20 April 2013.
Ban the killer robots before it’s too late, CNN, 3 April 2013.
Losing Humanity: The Case against Killer Robots, Human Rights Watch, 19 November 2012.
TAKE ACTION
Support the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots!
Follow the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots on Facebook and Twitter.
Send President Barack Obama a letter via Human Rights Watch: Tell President Obama – No Killer Robots.