Pakistan calls for moratorium on production of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems
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At the United Nations, Pakistan has called for a moratorium on the production of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), known as "killer robots", that are capable of making their own combat decisions without human intervention.
Pakistan’s delegate Husham Ahmed told the General Assembly's First Committee, which deals with disarmament and international security matters in New York that such devices would undermine world peace.
He said any weapon system that delegates life and death decisions to machines, is by nature unethical, and cannot fully comply with international law including International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law.
Pakistani delegate said they would also negatively affect progress on arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament.
He said that Pakistan supports an open ended working group through the Group of governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons and is open to addressing the issue in other multilateral forums, including the Conference on Disarmament.
He further said Pakistan views the trans-border unauthorized use of armed drones outside of international armed conflict, especially against civilians, as violation of International Law.
Their use also contravenes State sovereignty and the UN Charter restrictions on the legitimate use of force for self-defense purpose only.
