Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, 30 November 2023 1 Introduction 1. The Australian Human Rights Commission (Commission) welcomes the opportunity to make this submission to the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (Committee) in response to its Call for Input. 2. The role of the Commission is to work towards a world in which human rights are respected, protected and promoted. The Commission has expertise on the intersection between technology and human rights. 3. The Commission has demonstrated this expertise across several United Nations (UN) level submissions in 2023, including: • Human Rights in the Digital Age: Global Digital Compact submission to the UN Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology. • Tackling Technology-facilitated Slavery: UN Special Rapporteur on Slavery submission on the use of technology in facilitating and preventing slavery. • Global AI Governance: UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI submission on global AI governance. 4. In this submission the Commission addresses several questions posed by the Call for Input. The Commission welcomes further opportunities to engage with the Committee. 2 Definition of LAWS 5. There is no concrete definition of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). However, for the purpose of this submission LAWS can be understood as weapons that independently select and attack targets.1 LAWS include unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned surface vessels, unmanned underwater vessels and unmanned ground vehicles (amongst others).2 3 Question 1 6. Although international human rights law may have application to new and emerging technologies in the military domain (NTMD), such as LAWS, there are currently no targeted international laws which adequately capture and address the use of LAWS in conflict. There are also concerns that LAWS may not be capable of meeting the requirements of international human rights or humanitarian law.3 3