Australian Human Rights Commission Human Rights and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, 30 November 2023 • When interacting with LAWS, States must consider whether such actions are prohibited by international law. • The risk of acquisition of LAWS by terrorist groups and the risk of proliferation should be relevant concerns. • Risk assessments and mitigation measures must be part of interactions with LAWS. • Consideration should be given to the use of emerging technologies in the area of LAWS in upholding compliance with international obligations. • Emerging technologies should not be anthropomorphised in crafting potential policy measures. • Discussions and policy measures within the context of the CCW should not hamper progress in or access to peaceful uses of intelligent autonomous technologies. • The CCW offers an appropriate framework for dealing with the issue of LAWS.11 11. However, as these principles are not currently enforceable, their usefulness is limited. The Group of Governmental Experts has so far failed to reach any agreement beyond the guiding principles, highlighting the difficulty with reaching an agreement to govern LAWS. Its impact is also curtailed by several key States not being party to the CCW.12 3.3 Use of LAWS 12. The use of LAWS directly conflicts with the right to life under international human rights law. As the Human Rights Committee noted in General Comment No. 36 (2019) this right is ’the supreme right from which no derogation is permitted, even in situations of armed conflict or other public emergencies that threaten the life of the nation’.13 13. Due (in part) to a lack of regulation, countries are still using LAWS to deprive individuals of their right to life. Some of the most extensively documented use of LAWS in active conflict zones has been in the Libyan civil war and the Russia-Ukraine War.14 14. There is evidence of Russian forces using POM-3 ‘Medallion’ anti-personnel mines in conflict.15 This mine has a seismic sensor to enable it to detect movement in a radius of 16 meters and detonate. 16 Despite international efforts to ban land mines, Russia has now successfully autonomised them, proving that regulation of these weapons is of the utmost importance. 15. In Libya, LAWS were used as drones to strike targets without the need for connection between the operator and the munition, in what is described as 5