Chapter

The "robots don't rape" controversy

Maziar Homayounnejad and Richard E. Overill

Routledge handbook of war, law and technology

New York : Routledge, 2019

p. 169-181

English

The idea that ‘robots don’t rape’, whereas human soldiers might, has been a formally acknowledged by a Special Rapporteur in the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council and adduced by various experts at the UN’s Meetings of Experts on lethal autonomous weapon systems. The argument is distinctly pro-autonomous weapons systems, and should be seen as part of the broader narrative on the apparent virtues of robotic warfare. In this chapter, the controversy is explored and technical and legal aspects are discussed. The first section covers the details of the debate. The subsequent sections tackle three limitations that make the application of conventional wartime rape and torture law to the use of autonomous weapons systems problematic: the question of distance, design-led safeguards; and the introduction of "kill switch" technology.

• Full text (restricted access : ICRC)

• Routledge handbook of war, law and technology / ed. by James Gow, Ernst Dijxhoorn, Rachel Kerr and Guglielmo Verdirame