[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.210]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.770]An international coalition is calling for a ban
[00:11.070]on fully autonomous weapons known as "killer robots."
[00:16.750]The 45-member coalition proposed the ban
[00:20.950]to governments last month
[00:23.060]at a meeting of the United Nations Convention
[00:26.570]on Conventional Weapons in Geneva, Switzerland.
[00:30.370]The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots
[00:33.740]wants the U.N. organization to add fully autonomous weapons
[00:39.690]to its work program in 2014.
[00:43.990]Scientists have yet to develop fully autonomous killer robots.
[00:49.200]However, technology is moving toward increasing autonomy.
[00:55.050]Such weapons would identify
[00:57.900]and attack targets without human assistance.
[01:01.810]Noel Sharkey is a founding member
[01:05.210]of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
[01:08.610]He also chairs the International Committee for Robot Arms Control.
[01:14.620]Mr Sharkey says autonomous weapons should be banned.
[01:20.370]"The big problem for me is that there are no robot systems
[01:23.820]that can discriminate between civilian targets and military targets
[01:29.400]unless they are very, very clearly marked in some way…
[01:32.900]so, the idea of having robots going out into the field
[01:35.860]and selecting their own targets is to me,
[01:38.060]is just horrifying. It cannot work, " said Sharkey.
[01:40.350]Activists say robotic systems with different degrees of autonomy
[01:45.410]are already in use by Britain, Israel,
[01:49.220]the United States and South Korea.
[01:52.800]They believe China and Russia are also moving toward these systems.
[01:58.850]Steve Goose is a member of the campaign,
[02:02.200]he also directs the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch.
[02:07.200]He warns the killer robots will become a reality
[02:12.060]unless governments act now to ban them.
[02:15.660]He says the world should oppose the weapons system
[02:20.330]that would be able to identify and attack targets mechanically.
[02:25.830]He believes such a system crosses a basic moral and ethical line.
[02:32.080]"Robotic weapons systems should not make life
[02:35.340]and death decisions on the battlefield.
[02:37.370]That is simply inherently wrong.
[02:39.010]So, they need to be banned on ethical grounds.
[02:42.820]We think they also need to be banned on legal grounds.
[02:45.720]If and when a killer robot commits a war crime,
[02:51.120]violates international humanitarian law…
[02:53.940]who would be held accountable,
[02:55.290]who would be responsible for that violation?" said Goose.
[02:57.440]He adds that in recent months, fully autonomous weapons
[03:01.390]have gone from a little known issue to one
[03:05.240]that is commanding worldwide attention.
[03:08.100]He says that since last May,
[03:12.370]34 countries have openly expressed concern
[03:17.030]about the dangers the weapons present.
[03:20.080]Mr Goose notes that in 1995,
[03:24.330]the Convention on Conventional Weapons
[03:27.550]added a new policy to the treaty,
[03:30.300]which barred the use of blinding lasers.
[03:34.110]He believes killer robots could become the second such weapon
[03:39.510]to be banned before it is ever used in battle.
[03:43.760]And that is the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.