We use various third-party cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Please use the options below to manage your cookie settings. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Please be aware, if you deny cookies, certain features of our website may not work.
This will apply to all services
Google Analytics
YouTube
21 August 2024
Our latest research brief, Sending Up a Flare: Autonomous Weapons Systems Proliferation Risks to Human Rights and International Security, authored by Research Consultant Leif Monnett, examines the proliferation of autonomous weapons systems (AWS), and consequent risks to security and human rights.
AWS have been the subject of international processes since 2014. Proliferation risks, however, remain under-addressed in international fora. In response, this research examines factors determining which kinds of AWS proliferate, to whom they proliferate, and the pace and scope of proliferation. It identifies international security and law risks from the proliferation of AWS to state and non-state actors, including risks to civil society.
As explained by Leif Monnett, 'The proliferation of AWS to state and non-state actors threatens international security and poses serious risks to a wide range of human rights. Certain AWS technologies facilitate the killing or maiming of vulnerable people, or groups of people. The inherent difficulty of attributing AWS attacks may undermine accountability: a core principle underpinning international law.'
A key conclusion is that international action to address this potentiality is urgently needed. Head of Research and Policy Dr. Erica Harper underscored the report’s conclusion that 'The international community must seize the window of opportunity created by a growing awareness around AWS proliferation, and take proactive and concrete action to evaluate and mitigate the threats to human rights.' Specific policy recommendations include: evaluating the feasibility of a monitoring program to track the development and use of AWS; convening an interdisciplinary expert working group to identify best practices to reduce the vulnerability of high-risk targets; prohibiting the development of AWS which use technology facilitating targeted killing; and calling upon states to pledge to refrain from the domestic use of AWS.
News
Geneva Academy
The Geneva Academy’s Board has been recomposed with Professor Christian Bovet as the new president, who was recently welcomed at Villa Moynier by the executive committee.
News
GANHRI
Via its DHRTTDs Directory, the Geneva Human Rights Platform provides a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. But how to navigate them? Which tool should be used for what, and by whom? This interview helps us understand better the specificities of the current highlight of the directory: NHRI Accreditation Database
Event
Follow up discussion to the first day of the public hearing of the International Court of Justice to unpack key arguments and draw lesson from the hearings.
Event
Adobe Stock
This open meeting will allow exchanges with states and civil society on the current state of the strengthening process and the 2024 resolution recently passed at the General Assembly.
Short Course
UN Photo/Manuel Elias
This online short course provides an introduction to the regime of sanctions under international law and their effectiveness in addressing contemporary forms of conflict. It addresses the questions related to state responsibility, the pacific settlement of international disputes and the role of the International Court of Justice.
Training
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
This executive course, tailored for Geneva-based diplomats and co-organized with the support of the Swiss FDFA, addresses the negotiation practices at the multilateral level, by taking the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council as an example of formal and informal negotiation and decision-making processes by an international intergovernmental body.
Project
Adobe
This initiative wishes to contribute to better and more coordinated implementation, reporting and follow-up of international human rights recommendations through a global study on digital human rights tracking tools and databases.
Project
UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
A series of events aimed at discussing contemporary issues and challenges related to the promotion and protection of human rights in Geneva and beyond.
Publication
Geneva Academy
