Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
MORE THAN THREE in 5 people across 26 countries oppose the development of autonomous weapons that could select and kill targets without human intervention, according to a new poll.
The poll was commissioned by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a growing global coalition of NGOs, including Amnesty International, that is working to fully ban autonomous weapons.
It found that 61% of people oppose the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems.
66% of those opposed to lethal autonomous weapons systems were most concerned that they would “cross a moral line because machines should not be allowed to kill”.
54% of those opposed said they were concerned that the weapon would be “unaccountable”.
The findings come from surveys conducted in November and December 2018 by Ipsos. A total of 18,795 adults were surveyed across 26 countries. Ireland was not included in the survey.
A near-identical survey in 23 countries in January 2017 found that 56% of respondents were opposed to the weapons.
Amnesty International said that Russia, Israel, South Korea and the US indicated at the annual meeting of the Convention of Conventional Weapons in November 2018 that they would not support negotiations for a new treaty.
However, the poll results show that more than half of respondents in Russia (59%) and the US (52%) oppose autonomous weapons.
Support for fully autonomous weapons is strongest in India (50%) and Israel (41%). The strongest opposition is in Turkey (78%), South Korea (74%) and Hungary (74%).
“This poll shows that states blocking a ban in killer robots are totally out of step with public opinion. Governments should be protecting people from the myriad risks that killer robots pose, not rushing into a new arms race which could have terrifying consequences,” acting deputy director of Amnesty Tech Rasha Rahim.
We still have time to halt the development and proliferation of fully autonomous weapons, but we won’t have that luxury for long. Governments should take note of this poll and urgently begin negotiating a new treaty to prohibit these horrifying weapons.
“Only this can help ensure respect for international law and address ethical and security concerns regarding delegating the power to make life-and-death decisions to machines,” Rahim said.
Amnesty International is calling for a total ban on the development, production and use of fully autonomous weapon systems, in light of the “serious, human rights, humanitarian and security risks they pose”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
We need to see good quality leadership for a change. Gender not important
So what she means is that we need to see more women like Lorraine Higgins….who has lost all four elections that she ran for and is now a Senator because Kenny put her there. So demonstrating that the will fo teh people matters not.
So we need more women who don’t understand the meaning of utopia.
Need more women to lie about what there being told on the door steps.
What we need are more women who listen to the people and have a brain and have an interest in Thiosd country and that will put us first.
Its not a gender issue its a capability issue!!!!!
10-12-2014
http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=9743 evidence if anyone needed it
Sorry emmet that was sooo sexist * uses my victim card*
#dec10
What has Frances F ever done for anyone that wasn’t begging a cheap vote in return? She’s only in there by luck and chance after FF imploded….
- She is a role model to no soul.
Tell joan the phone that, if she had any balls at all she would have folded this Government.
Murph you right what a load of crap. If Enda Kenny is their chosen one they don,t know any thing about leadership. This plonker has lost the people.
I would love to see more women in Politics .. Women that work for the people ….. Women that are not involved with Political Parties that hurt those that are finding it hard to survive ..women that listen to the people… Would you not agree Ms Fitzgerald. . ???
“Who would have thought women would be in the sex trade in 2016″
Frances planning to eliminate the oldest profession in the world ??? (holds hands in head)
Notable albeit naive aspiration
Herself and O Riordan are spending too much time alone and believing their own bull$hit.
We need to rear a nation of Joan Burton..a successful female role model. Put a bit of manners on Samsung and Apple too with those sinister smartphones.
Or wonderful examples such as Gemma Hussey, Alice Glenn, Mary Robinson, Mary Harney, Lucinda Creighton, the last Rehab CEO….the list of self-serving Luddite feminist-type ‘leaders’ is awe-inspiring and endless to be sure!!
Yes, the current and previous lot would not be examples to learn from. burton is a disgrace to humanity.
It would be great to see more women in politics. As long as they’re not in fg ff and labour. Then it’s fine
Correct Minister and lets hope the leaders they see are more like Maureen O’Sullivan TD & Cllr Brid Smith than like you.
The gender equality issue has to do with the enormous power that the catholic church had and to a large extent still has in this country and its legacy. It still has an iron grip on our educational system and our health system.
The sheer hypocrisy of the Government, in fact all governments have shown when dealing with this issue is baffling. Plenty of sound bytes but no real action, it would upset a bunch of old male virgins wearing pointed hats.
Bullsh Joseph. Pretty much every society across the world discrminates against women and it did not take the Catholic church to achieve that. Nor religion more generally. It is part of the human power game in which male physical strength is translated into social power.
Religion (no matter what flavor) discriminates against women. The Main and most powerful religion is in Ireland was/is Catholicism.
Does she know of any good male or female leaders , what happened the file of over 200 complaints against guarda, b4 she even opened it she said most would be malicious claims bla bla bla and yet she still has done nothing
Frances YOU have to prove yourself a LOT more….but guess its too late for that now
Frances Firzgerald. Taoiseach 2016-2021
Perish the thought
Quality is more important then gender p Healy eames lucinda creighton must set back women’s equality by years.women who believe they belong in the 1920s
Women have more to prove? What a gender-neurotic comment.
She obviously has never felt the weight of expectation that has encumbered men since time immemorial: an onus of expectation that tells us we need to be successful, respected and employed in a ‘manly’ job at all costs, lest we be seen as less of a ‘man’ – both by society and by ourselves – and thereby worthless to the world.
More and more men and becoming suicide statistics simply because we can no longer deal with this weight of expectation. Yet here we have this ‘gender-neuroticism’ that operates on the assumption that women always have it worse!
In any case I don’t believe it possible to quantify the level of struggle for the purpose of comparison between the two genders. Men and women suffer in different ways. Sadly, men tend to suffer in silence, and it is that silence that leads to the presumption that we do not suffer at all, or at least that our suffering is of a much weaker magnitude than that of women.
And guess what she just appointed a woman garda commissioner who worked wit Callinan.
What a sexist waste of space this Frances Fitzgerald is !
She has done nothing of any value …. ever !
It is interesting how people respond to role models and why gender identity is an important factor in one. This is something I’ve always been curious about.
How am I supposed to succeed in life with so few left-handed role models? :’(
So few left handed role models? Are you serious, bleeding everyone’s a lefty these days.
What about Kermit the Frog? He’s deadly.
have your say