War, weapons and watchdogs: an assessment of the legality of new weapons under international human rights law

Abstract

This paper will critically analyse the International Committee of the Red Cross’ new weapons review and emphasise the importance of considering human rights in the assessment of the legality of weapons. Further, the paper will illustrate this practically by analysing the legality of drones and killer robots from the perspective of the right to life and the prohibition against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.