Search: battlefield robots
21 Jul Does the US Need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission? (Answer: No.)
...embassies, the Cole etc. are such overwhelming crimes that I think they negate the possibility of a truth and reconciliation type process. Feel free to make any normative argument you want, but I think my empirical point is accurate. Truch commissions investigate bad acts committed against good people, looking at bad acts againt bad people would be unprecedented. Kevin Jon Heller So all the detainees at Guantanamo who were picked up away from the battlefield by warlords looking for bounties, against whom the US government has no evidence of any...28 Feb Predators over Pakistan …
...human rights and the law of war mutually exclusive. Considering the world as a comprehensive battlefield in which democracies are combating the war on terror is contrary to the rules of war. As in other different sectors of international law, the scope of a regulation is primarily territorial. Since we cannot consider the entire world as a battlefield, outside the zone of operations, there are no combatants, and thus no targets a priori. The reasoning of those who think that the term “war” to refer to international struggle against terrorism...
23 Jan Legal Consequences of Peremptory Norms: A Missing Part in the South Africa v. Israel Case and an Opportunity to Reinforce Jus Cogens
...have had no analysis of IDF proceedures, or any analysis of the battlefield reality faced by the IDF, or any attempts to determine whether any specific actions on the battlefield can be explained without criminal intent. And no evidence of any intent whatsoever, beyond statements by random politicians with no power to influence anything and no evidence that any soldier is influenced by such statement.s Not even a single incident has been analysed in any depth to establish any plausible criminal wrongdoing. In particular, the problem with South Africa's genocide...07 Aug Why Hamdan’s Material Support Convictions Violate the Ex Post Facto Clause
...period of his liberty of an enemy combatant that would have been forfeit on the battlefield. From a utilitarian perspective, I would suggest that it is exceedingly unwise to treat an enemy combatant as a civilian criminal defendant. Under civilian criminal law, you are deciding whether to punish the perpetrator after the fact. Thus, one can afford to release ten guilty people so that one innocent person is not punished. However, the equation fundamentally changes when you are at war. Holding an enemy combatant as a prisoner of war is...23 Apr Students, Junior Faculty, and Human Rights Scholars are Delicate Flowers
...his book, Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. He reports that as legal adviser, “Harold Koh, wanted to lay out the case publicly before Aulaqi was killed,” in an effort to preempt critiques of the administration’s decision to target and kill a U.S. citizen in secret and without a trial.[15] According to Mr. Scahill: “In advance of his public speech, the CIA and military gave Koh access to their intel on Aulaqi. Koh settled in for a long day of reading in the Secured Classified Intelligence Facility. According to...
15 Jan After the International Court of Justice: Business as Usual? Al-Haq and Others versus the Netherlands: District Court The Hague 13 December 2024
...Netherlands exported 2.5 million euros worth of military goods -including components of military robots and naval vessels- to Israel between 7 October 2023 and October 2024. The judge’s conclusions that there is also no legal basis for a full embargo is only reached because the wider context (the illegal occupation) is entirely left out of consideration. Both the Opinion and the Arms Trade Treaty (not mentioned in the ruling, but Article 7 prohibits arms export if there is an overriding risk of facilitating a serious violation of international humanitarian or...03 Jan Some Thoughts on Negotiating a Treaty on Autonomous Weapon Systems
...informative discussion had run its course, and that the time was right to proceed with a more formal mandate, to “explore and agree on possible recommendations on options related to emerging technologies in the area of LAWS”. Once confirmed, this raised expectations amongst some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that a ban on ‘killer robots’ may follow. However, as other commentators noted at the time, the formal mandate made no reference to negotiating a LAWS treaty, and this was clearly a result of divergent views within the CCW’s membership over how best...05 Jan Holiday Roundup: December 22, 2012 – January 4, 2013
...already made a new year’s resolution to post more about robots, but promised to cover other areas as well. His first post of the year covered adulteration of extra virgin olive oil, showing that there is no limit to potential international law questions. Kristen Boon also reflected on the role of international law in settling the East China Sea dispute. If you need to catch up with the news of the past fortnight, our weekday news wraps may be helpful. As always, we also provided our weekly events and announcements...
14 Aug A Better World Emerging from the Crises
...military advantage through weapons research. Instead of green technology, the competitionists invent killer robots. Instead of cyber security, their researchers find new ways to destroy through computer applications. China builds coal-fired power plants to pay for a navy bigger than the U.S.’s. The contrast with the non-polar world could not be greater. The pandemic is leading to de-coupling from hegemonic rivalry. Figures like Putin, Trump, or Xi, are not found among those committed to solidarity. And the solidarists are everywhere. Their names reach headlines without stoking cults of personality, including,...
05 Apr Symposium on Military AI and the Law of Armed Conflict: De-anthropomorphizing Artificial Intelligence – Grounding Notions of Accountability in Reality
...development and use of AI where its potential benefits can outweigh its risks. No technology, including weapons and weapons systems, is infallible. The approach to accountability for unwanted outcomes should be no different than with any other means or method of warfare. Hyperbolic calls to ban “Killer Robots” specifically, or militarized AI generally, have gained little to no traction among States. This should come as no surprise given the potential AI offers to exponentially increase the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of operations and reduce the inherent and infamous fog of...