Belgium has become one of the first countries in the world to outright ban lethal autonomous weapons, also known as ‘killer robots’ after its Defence Committee approved a bill tabled by the parliament’s Socialist group earlier this week.
This ban was already the goal of the parliamentarians of the same committee when they voted in July 2018, in favour of a resolution calling on the government to ensure that the Belgian army never uses killer robots in its operations. Since then, nothing has changed.
"Within the majority, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats were afraid that the vote on the text would no longer allow Defence to use its armed drones," Socialist MP Christophe Lacroix, one of the architects of the bill, told Le Soir.
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"The General Staff confirmed that this would not be the case because drones are guided by humans and not by artificial intelligence. We then also got the support of the Minister of Defence, Ludivine Dedonder. This text does not compromise either our interests or those of Defence. This ban would strengthen Belgium, which is campaigning internationally for this cause.”
However, banning at the international level is no longer on the agenda, even if Belgium has always wanted it.
It is already too late since some countries such as Russia, India, Turkey and the United States already use this type of weapon.
Other countries such as Australia, Israel and North Korea are also opposed to a ban. The only hope for countries like Belgium is that there is enough support around the world for the international community to regulate the use of these robots, if a global ban is out of reach.
