Autonomous Weapons Systems: Unresolved Regulatory and Implementation Issues

This research work is devoted to legal issues of the development and use of autonomous weapons systems (also known as combat robots, «killer robots» or lethal autonomous weapons) in armed conflicts and in law enforcement. The aim of the work is a comprehensive study of the problems that arise when developing models of international legal regulation of the use of autonomous weapons and identifying ways to solve them. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the lack of comprehensive scientific developments on relevant topics in Russian, as well as in the proposals and conclusions made: the author formulates the definition of autonomous weapons systems, identifies their essential features, assesses the compliance of these systems with international humanitarian law and human rights law, considers options for international legal regulation of their creation and implementation. As a result of the study, the arguments of the proponents of an absolute ban on autonomous weapons systems are found to be invalid and the need for the adoption of technical standards and norms for their development and production, as well as an international treaty containing the guiding principles of autonomous weapons systems with the possibility of supplementing it with specific protocols, is substantiated.