Reports

Alternative Processes for Negotiating a Killer Robots Treaty

The 40-page report, “An Agenda for Action: Alternative Processes for Negotiating a Killer Robots Treaty,” is copublished by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic. It proposes that countries initiate a treaty-making process based on past humanitarian disarmament models, such as for the treaty banning cluster munitions.

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  • Cluster Munition Attacks in Ukraine

    The 20-page report, “Intense and Lasting Harm: Cluster Munition Attacks in Ukraine,” details how Russian armed forces have used at least six types of cluster munitions in the international armed conflict in Ukraine.

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  • The Human Cost of Incendiary Weapons and the Limits of International Law

    The 45-page report, “‘They Burn Through Everything’: The Human Cost of Incendiary Weapons and the Limits of International Law,” details the immediate injuries and lasting physical, psychological, and socioeconomic harm of incendiary weapons, including white phosphorus, used by parties to recent conflicts.

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  • Elements of and Models for a Treaty on Killer Robots

    The 25-page report, “New Weapons, Proven Precedent: Elements of and Models for a Treaty on Killer Robots,” outlines key elements for a future treaty to maintain meaningful human control over the use of force and prohibit weapons systems that operate without such control.

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  • Country Positions on Banning Fully Autonomous Weapons and Retaining Human Control

    The 55-page report, “Stopping Killer Robots: Country Positions on Banning Fully Autonomous Weapons and Retaining Human Control,” reviews the policies of the 97 countries that have publicly elaborated their views on killer robots since 2013.

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  • Social Control and Abuses by Armed Groups in Colombia’s Arauca Province and Venezuela’s Apure State

    This report documents violations by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Patriotic Forces of National Liberation (FPLN), and a group that emerged from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

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  • Abusive Night Raids by CIA-Backed Afghan Strike Forces

    This report documents 14 cases from late 2017 to mid-2019 in which CIA-backed Afghan strike forces committed serious abuses, some amounting to war crimes.

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  • A Moral and Legal Imperative to Ban Killer Robots

    This report finds that fully autonomous weapons would violate what is known as the Martens Clause.

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  • Insurgent Attacks on Civilians in Afghanistan

    This report documents attacks since 2016 by the Taliban and groups affiliated with the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), an affiliate of the Islamic State. While the Taliban claim they do not target civilians, the report documents indiscriminate attacks by the Taliban that have killed and injured thousands.

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  • Civilian Casualties in Anti-ISIS Coalition Airstrikes in Syria

    This report documents coalition attacks in March on a school housing displaced families in Mansourah and a market and a bakery in Tabqa, towns west of the city of Raqqa. Human Rights Watch found that ISIS fighters were at these sites, but so were dozens, perhaps hundreds, of civilians.

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  • The Syrian Government’s Widespread and Systematic Use of Chemical Weapons

    This report identifies three different systems being used to deliver chemical weapons: government warplanes appear to have dropped bombs with nerve agents on at least four occasions since December 12; government helicopter-dropped chlorine-filled munitions have become more systematic; and government or pro-government gro

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  • US Authorities’ Failure to Take Adequate Precautions

    This report found that statements by US military authorities after the attack indicate that they failed to understand that the targeted building was a mosque, that prayer was about to begin, and that a religious lecture was taking place at the time of the attack.

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  • The Dangers of Killer Robots and the Need for a Preemptive Ban

    This report rebuts 16 key arguments against a ban on fully autonomous weapons.

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  • Iraqi Kurdish Forces' Destruction of Villages, Homes in Conflict with ISIS

    This report looked at destruction of homes between September 2014 and May 2016 in disputed areas of Kirkuk and Nineveh governorates, areas nominally under Iraqi government jurisdiction but under Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) control.

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  • Unlawful Coalition Airstrikes on Saada City in Yemen

    This 47-page report documents a dozen airstrikes on the Houthi stronghold that destroyed or damaged civilian homes, five markets, a school, and a petrol station, though there was no evidence these sites were being used for military purposes.

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  • The Lack of Accountability for Killer Robots

    This 38-page report details significant hurdles to assigning personal accountability for the actions of fully autonomous weapons under both criminal and civil law. It also elaborates on the consequences of failing to assign legal responsibility.