Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Policy Paper Ambitious, safe, responsible: Our approach to the delivery of AI-enabled capability in Defence, published on 15 June, in particular the statement that "there must be context-appropriate human involvement in weapons which identify, select and attack targets", whether users need to understand the effects of using the weapons in each specific context for such use to be acceptable.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The MOD has set out a clear commitment to develop and use AI-enabled military capabilities - including, potentially, weapons systems - safely, responsibly, and ethically. This includes ensuring that commanders and the operators of AI-enabled systems are trained to understand the appropriate parameters of use in relation to their specific domain and operating context.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC on autonomous weapons systems published on 12 May 2021, in particular the statement that "in light of ethical considerations to safeguard humanity and to uphold International Humanitarian Law, rules for the protection of civilians and combatants hors de combat, the use of autonomous weapons systems to target human beings should be ruled out"; and what assessment they have made of systems that identify people as targets based on (1) biometrics, and (2) perceived (a) gender, (b) race, and (c) age.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
As we embed our Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy frameworks we will continue working with external stakeholders (including the International Committee of the Red Cross and our independent AI Ethics Advisory Panel) to ensure our approach reflects best practice and complies with our obligations. Systems that are designed to identify people as targets based on only biometrics, and perceived gender, race, and age are very unlikely to comply with the requirements of International Humanitarian Law.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support an international Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The UK will take a view on our support of the international Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas once its final form is known.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have regarding the storage of retired nuclear submarines after the last slot at 3 Basin Devonport is filled by the arrival of HMS Trenchant.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
There is existing capacity and capability at Devonport to safely store all decommissioned submarines up to and including the Trafalgar Class. Beyond this, the requirements for storage of future decommissioned submarines is being considered.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that individuals in Mali at personal risk through their involvement with British forces and officials can be extracted and resettled if necessary.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The UK has a small number of contracted interpreters supporting UK personnel in Mali and we take their personal security very seriously. Our contracting standards require that people must be as safe and secure as reasonably possible when working in our support. We are not aware of an immediate threat to UK contractors at this time.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to hamper the global activities of (1) the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, and (2) other similar organisations.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
It is clear that the Wagner Group and other similar organisations do not provide enduring security. Her Majesty's Government (HMG) will continue to attribute and expose where Wagner or other organisations undermine security and commit human rights abuses.
In December 2021, the UK issued a statement with 15 international partners to firmly condemn the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali, which we believe can only further deteriorate the security environment.
In 2020, HMG placed an asset freeze and travel ban on an individual closely associated with Wagner Group, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, following his support to the Group's activities in Libya, where they were involved in multiple and repeated breaches of the arms embargo in Libya established in UNSCR 1970.