A side event titled “An Interfaith Dialogue on Killer Robots” took place on 27 August 2024, during the United Nations meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems.

Hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and supported by the Stop Killer Robots coalition, the meeting shared views of panelists representing Christianity, Islam, the Bahá’í International Community and Soka Gakkai International.

A common theme amongst all of the panelists' interventions was the important role that religious and faith-based organizations should play when it comes to grave and existential threats such as autonomous weapons systems.

The meeting kicked off with an overview of the challenges and concerns posed by autonomous weapons systems, and each panelist addressed these concerns from their faith tradition’s perspective. Panelists also shared some of their awareness-raising activities on autonomous weapons that aimed to both sensitize and galvanize people within their own constituencies.

For example, event moderator Jennifer Philpot-Nissen, WCC programme executive for Human Rights and Disarmament shared that the WCC Executive Committee affirmed their grave concern about autonomous weapons systems, and called upon the member churches to advocate with their governments to support an international ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Additionally, WCC has launched a “Killer Robots Church Campaign Guide” to help inform and assist their member churches.

Other themes discussed were the ethical and moral risks that autonomous weapons pose to the value of human life and human dignity, as well as the social impact of reducing human beings to mere data points. Hayley Ramsay-Jones of the SGI Office for UN Affairs commented, “Given that autonomous weapons systems are designed to target and kill based on data inputs and preprogrammed algorithms, we are extremely concerned about algorithmic bias and discriminatory impact.” She further elaborated, "Within Buddhism, there is a concept of interconnectedness of life that no one issue, person or thing exists in a vacuum. In this sense, you cannot build true happiness on someone else’s suffering."

Raza Shah Khan of Sustainable Peace and Development Organization, based in Pakistan, spoke about possible solutions to safeguard against the many challenges and concerns posed by autonomous weapons systems. In this regard, he stressed the importance of the international community negotiating an international legally binding instrument that would regulate autonomy in weapons systems. “States should work together to build consensus and trust towards a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems,” said Shah Khan. He also stated, "Irrespective of our beliefs or religions, humanity is the fundamental norm of all religions. The value of life is priceless. Autonomous weapons systems can't understand the value of life."

Approximately 40 participants attended the meeting. Both panelists and attendees posed questions that sought to build on existing interfaith efforts, as well as enhance collaboration among faith groups towards building support for the launch of international negotiations on autonomous weapons systems.

Simin Fahandej, a representative of the Bahá’í International Community’s UN Office in Geneva extended this by asking “How can we as faith communities go beyond merely supporting treaties? How can we actively contribute to the creation of a robust international, moral and ethical framework that will guide our discussion and decisions on technological advancements?”

The 90-minute meeting concluded with panelists’ final words and calls for urgent action, including a statement from Reverend Kolade Fadahunsi of the World Council of Churches, Nigeria: "As people of faith, it would be a disservice if we could not prohibit autonomous weapons systems. It is time for us to rise and take action—create a narrative that we must protect those who are vulnerable and raise their voices."

SGI has been a member of the Stop Killer Robots coalition since 2018. To find out more about SGI’s activities on autonomous weapons systems, please visit our Stopping Killer Robots page.