Launch of Investor Statement on Autonomous Weapons

Stop Killer Robots , in collaboration with Etica Funds, is making an urgent
appeal to institutional investors to call for the establishment of an international regulation governing
the development and use of autonomous weapon systems, or “killer robots” — weapons that,
thanks to artificial intelligence systems, are capable of identifying and striking targets without
human control.

The use of these weapons is no longer confined to experimentation but has already become a reality
in operational missions. Yet, at the global level, there is still no shared legal definition of
autonomous weapon systems. Their growing deployment raises profound questions about
compliance with international humanitarian law and generates serious ethical and strategic concerns.
These systems challenge the very way we conceive the use of force, moral responsibility, and the
value of human life itself.

Delegating life-and-death decisions to machines means accepting digital dehumanization – the
process of reducing people to mere data, stripping them of their dignity, and replacing human
responsibility and intervention with automation. Autonomous weapon systems also pose significant
technical and operational problems, linked to their complexity and reliance on the quality of input
data, which can result in unpredictable and potentially dangerous errors.

Adopting an international treaty to regulate these weapons — and, in high-risk cases, prohibit their
use, as is already the case for other controversial weapons such as cluster bombs and landmines —
represents a fundamental step to counter dehumanization, reduce automated harm, and establish
ethical boundaries for technological development. In the financial sector, the existence of
international regulation would also reduce uncertainty and provide a crucial reference point for
investors with a long-term perspective and a commitment to social and environmental sustainability.

The Investor Statement
Since its foundation, Etica Funds has excluded weapons from the investments of its funds. Faced with
this new emergency, Etica Funds and Stop Killer Robots are inviting institutional investors to sign the
Investor Statement, which calls on government leaders worldwide to initiate negotiations for a new
international law on autonomous weapon systems, aimed at:

• banning the development and use of autonomous weapons that target humans;
• ensuring meaningful human control over all decisions related to the use of force.

The Statement is available here: www.stopkillerrobots.org/investorstatement 

Nicole van Rooijen, Executive Director of Stop Killer Robots, stated: “We are pleased to partner with
Etica Funds to develop the Investor Statement on Autonomous Weapons. At a time when we are
seeing the increased incorporation of artificial intelligence and automation in warfare result in severe
humanitarian harms, it is crucial to build awareness of and resistance against the development of
autonomous weapons. Support from the investment community is key in advancing our work to
create a new international law to regulate these weapons, oppose digital dehumanisation and reduce
automated harm.”

Marco Carlizzi, Chairman of Etica Funds, stated: “Allowing machines to decide over life and death is
unacceptable: it means crossing a non-negotiable boundary for humanity. Every autonomous weapon
represents a renunciation of our responsibility and our dignity as human beings. These systems are
not merely a new generation of armaments; they mark a paradigm shift in the relationship between
war, technology, and humanity, posing challenges that go far beyond the legal dimension. At a time
marked by conflicts that claim civilian victims every day and massacres that weigh heavily on the
collective conscience, the use of autonomous weapon systems further amplifies the dehumanization
of war and distances us from any prospect of peace. For this reason, Etica Funds, together with the
Stop Killer Robots coalition, calls on the investor community to urgently advocate for the adoption of
binding international rules to prohibit killer robots.”