Geneva, Switzerland, Nov 28, 2018 / 12:18 pm
A Vatican representative to the United Nations called on the international community to ban killer robots – known as Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) – in a speech in Geneva last week.
"In order to prevent an arms race and the increase of inequalities and instability, it is an imperative duty to act promptly: now is the time to prevent LAWS from becoming the reality of tomorrow's warfare," said Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.
The archbishop spoke Nov. 22 at the 2018 Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW).
He said the parties to the convention should "make a courageous and enlightened decision of prohibiting LAWS like it did in the past concerning other types of weapons."