Humanitarian disarmament: Banning killer robots, Auckland

Join us at this humanitarian disarmament lecture by Mary Wareham, Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Arms Division and Global Coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, for a presentation and Q &A on fully autonomous weapon systems (aka killer robots), international developments, and the need for New Zealand to develop coherent policy to guide its multilateral disarmament diplomacy on this unprecedented threat to humanity.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is an international coalition of NGOs working for a pre-emptive ban on the development, production and use of autonomous weapon systems – robotic weapons with the ability to select and attack targets, without any meaningful level of human control over the use of force.

This lecture is organised by the Aotearoa New Zealand Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and hosted by the Conflict, Terrorism and Peace (CTAP) Research Group at the University of Auckland.

RSVP: Aotearoa New Zealand Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, email stopkillerrobots@xtra.co.nz or https://www.facebook.com/events/877768915894210

About Mary Wareham

Mary Wareham is Advocacy Director of the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch and serves as coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. She is in New Zealand to speak at public events in Christchurch on 16 April, Dunedin on 17 April, Wellington on 1 May, and Auckland on 3 May.

Wareham worked as a researcher for the New Zealand parliament from 1995 to 1996 after receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Victoria University of Wellington. From 2006 to 2008, Wareham served as advocacy director for Oxfam New Zealand, leading its efforts to secure the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. She served as a member of the country’s Public Advisory Committee for Disarmament and Arms Control from 2006-2012.

As senior advocate for the arms division of Human Rights Watch from 1998 to 2006, Wareham established and led the Landmine Monitor research initiative to verify compliance and implementation of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. From 1996 to 1997, she worked for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, assisting Jody Williams in coordinating the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize together with Williams.

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