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DESCRIPTION:The Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at McGill Unive
 rsity presents: The René Cassin lectureship in Human Rights 2022 \n\nWith 
 Kevin Jon Heller\, moderated by Frédéric Mégret\n\nIn-person\; the event w
 ill also be livecast\, find link here - Masks not required\; respect for o
 thers’ safety requested \n\nAbout the talk \n\nThe Concept of “the Human” 
 in the Critique of Autonomous Weapons \n\nAutonomous weapons systems (AWS)
  – so-called “killer robots” – are no longer the stuff of science fiction.
  In Libya\, Syria\, Nagorno-Karabakh\, and most recently Ukraine\, states 
 have used weapons in combat that have an autonomous mode. And it is only a
  matter of time before AWS become ubiquitous on the battlefield\, because 
 the world’s most powerful states currently devote tens of billions of doll
 ars to developing\, manufacturing\, and even exporting increasingly sophis
 ticated versions of them. \n\nAs AWS have proliferated\, so have calls to 
 prohibit their use. Some objections to AWS are legal\, such as the idea th
 at international humanitarian law (IHL) permits only humans to use lethal 
 force. Others are deontological\, such as the contention that allowing mac
 hines to kill is inconsistent with human dignity. And still others are con
 sequentialist\, such as the claim that using AWS will lead to unnecessary 
 civilian casualties because only human soldiers are capable of complying w
 ith IHL. \n\nDespite their differences\, all of these critiques emphasise 
 the need for war to remain an exclusively human endeavour. The “human” the
 y imagine\, however\, is an idealized one: the traditional Enlightenment s
 ubject who is rational\, self-determining\, and capable of self-control. T
 hat conception of human subjectivity is contradicted by decades of researc
 h into how humans actually make decisions\, particularly in dangerous and 
 stressful situations such as armed conflict. As this lecture will show\, o
 nce we accept humans as they are\, not how critics imagine them to be\, th
 e case against AWS collapses: war fought with killer robots is likely to b
 e far more “humane” than war fought solely by human soldiers. \n\nAbout th
 e speaker \n\nKevin Jon Heller is currently Professor of International Law
  and Security at the University of Copenhagen’s Centre for Military Studie
 s and Professor of Law at the Australian National University. His books in
 clude The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Cr
 iminal Law (OUP\, 2011) and four co-edited volumes: The Handbook of Compar
 ative Criminal Law (Stanford University Press\, 2010)\, The Hidden Histori
 es of War Crimes Trials (OUP\, 2013)\, The Oxford Handbook of Internationa
 l Criminal Law (OUP\, 2018)\, and Contingency in International Law: On the
  Possibility of Different Legal Histories (OUP\, 2021). He currently serve
 s as Special Advisor to the ICC Prosecutor on International Criminal Law D
 iscourse\, is a member of the Advisory Board of the Bar Human Rights Assoc
 iation of England and Wales\, and has been a member of Opinio Juris\, the 
 world’s oldest international-law blog\, for more than 15 years.  \n\nAbout
  the René Cassin lectureship \n\nThe René Cassin Lectureship is organized 
 by the McGill Faculty of Law. In 1988\, the Alliance Isréalite Universelle
  established this Lectureship to mark the centenary of the birth of René C
 assin\, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. The Alliance Isréalite
  Universelle is one of the oldest and most distinguished human rights orga
 nizations\, having been founded in Paris in 1860. René Cassin was its pres
 ident from 1943 to 1969. \n\nThe inaugural lecture was delivered by the Ho
 n. Claire l’Heureux-Dubé. Other speakers have included the Hon. Walter Tar
 nopolsky\; Ambassador Yves Fortier\; Minister Barbara McDougall (1992)\; t
 he Hon. Jules Deschênes\; Dr. Bernard Kouchner\; the Hon. Louise Arbour\; 
 the Right Hon. Beverley McLachlin\; Prof. Michael Bothe\; Prof. Mireille D
 elmas-Marty (2006)\; Prof. Jacques Semelin (2009)\; Prof. Jon Elster (2011
 )\; the Hon. Irwin Cotler (2013)\; former president of the Quebec Human Ri
 ghts Commission Jacques Frémont (2015)\; Prof. Philippe Sands (2018). \n\n
 All\, welcome. Please join us\, and please share the announcement widely.
 \n\nFor more information human.rights [at] mcgill.ca \n
DTSTART:20220929T210000Z
DTEND:20220929T223000Z
LOCATION:Maxwell Cohen Moot Court\, Room 100
SUMMARY:The Concept of “the Human” in the Critique of Autonomous Weapons
URL:https://www.mcgill.ca/law/channels/event/concept-human-critique-autonom
 ous-weapons-341107
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