Part 4 – Legal considerations
Key deductions and insights
- Human rights law does not recognise the increasingly blurred line between
humans and technology. This will have important implications for how human
augmentation is adopted in the future, particularly with regard to privacy and
protecting our way of life. - Accountability for the actions of augmented individuals, particular in a military
context, will be complex and will need to be understood at all levels of
command. - Liability for military augmentations is likely to extend beyond the Serviceperson’s
career. How this is legally managed will require careful consideration. - Human augmentation of the future could have both beneficial and adverse
impacts on compliance with the principles of necessity, humanity, distinction
and proportionality – technologies that bolster one, may denude another. - Human augmentation may require revision of the conventions of war if
augmented combatants are deemed to constitute a new means or method of
war. - Voluntary and informed consent will be very challenging to achieve in a military
context, where a hierarchical culture and predisposition to obey orders could
conflict with human rights. - Irrespective of international and domestic laws related to human augmentation,
history has shown that compliance will vary based on culture, political ideology
and national interest. The legal playing field will be uneven. - States’ differing legal obligations and constraints have implications for
interoperability with allies and freedom of manoeuvre relative to potential
adversaries. - Law is not immutable but change tends to be slow – early and regular
engagement with legal experts is required of those developing or procuring
human augmentation technology.