The war in Ukraine has put allegations of war crimes and the possibility of prosecutions at the International Criminal Court in the headlines. Apart from feelings of horror, this prospect may seem irrelevant to most engineers and computer scientists. It isn’t – the technology sector has lessons to learn especially now that drones are playing a prominent war-changing role.
Warfare is governed by International Humanitarian Law (IHL), also known as the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC), through treaties and international protocols negotiated at the United Nations. IHL has the premise that wars will happen, but lethal actions can only be taken by identifiable individuals who have authority to act within the law. Consequently, responsibility and hence liability for harm to people or property must always lie with an identifiable individual, using a weapon system which has predictable behaviour.
Armed drones are one example of lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs). Who...