international humanitarian law principles applicable during international armed conflict

State responsibility underpins international law. We note that some states-including Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom-have articulated much more detailed analyses of how AWS might relate to a particular rule or field of international law in light of our interest in discerning state practice, we focus, in part, on those states’ positions and practices. The section, however, is not meant to be exhaustive. In this section, we raise concerns not only in those fields but also in some of the other regimes of international law that might apply with respect to war algorithms. With respect to AWS, most commentators and states focus primarily on international humanitarian law and international criminal law. We focus here primarily on rules that may relate to AWS, but we also note a number of rules that may (otherwise or also) implicate war algorithms. So we then outline some of the main international law rules of a more general nature. We find that one has not, at least not yet.

We examine whether a customary international law norm pertaining to AWS in particular has crystallized. Part of the focus is on AWS, since that has been the main framing states have addressed to date. Then, in the bulk of the section, we highlight relevant considerations in the substantive law of obligations.

We first set the stage with an introduction of state responsibility. Finally, scrutiny governance entails detecting-and potentially surpassing-a baseline of relevant normative regimes, and international law may provide a foundational normative framework concerning regulation of war algorithms. Individual responsibility entails, among other things, identifying the elements of the crime and the mode of responsibility under international law.

State responsibility entails, among other things, identifying the content of the underlying obligation. We do so to identify some of the fundamental substantive norms that may be relevant to war algorithms in general and to our three-part accountability approach in particular. In this section, we outline key fields, concepts, and rules relating to international law pertaining to armed conflict.

International humanitarian law principles applicable during international armed conflict