A U.N. investigator called on the world body on Friday to set up a panel to study the ethics and legality of unmanned military weapons -- an apparent reference to U.S. drones that strike suspected Islamist militants.
In a report to the U.N. General Assembly human rights committee, Christof Heyns said such systems raised "serious concerns that have been almost entirely unexamined by human rights or humanitarian actors."
"The international community urgently needs to address the legal, political, ethical and moral implications of the development of lethal robotic technologies," said Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions.
It was the second time this year U.N. experts tackled the issue. In June, Heyns' predecessor, Philip Alston, called for a halt to CIA-directed drone strikes on al Qaeda and Taliban suspects in Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying killings ordered far from the battlefield could lead to a "Playstation" mentality.
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