In the report, Prof Heyns calls on the UN to promote a moratorium on the use of such weapons, and to appoint a High Level Panel to investigate the terms under which it may be used, if at all. According to Prof Heyns, "[T]here are serious concerns which need to be addressed before - and if - humanity is to go down the road of delegating the decisions whether people should live or die to machines. For one person to use a deadly weapon against another under any circumstances demands reflection; giving the weapons themselves the power to decide who they are going to kill clearly calls for some serious consideration."

The report, released on the website of the UN a couple of weeks ago, can be found at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A-HRC-23-47_en.pdf.