A/HRC/48/Add.xx stationary, remote-operated semi-autonomous weapons[.]”31 The South Korean government has stated that it has no intent to develop or acquire lethal autonomous weapons systems.32 Due to a lack of transparency, often the status of autonomous weapons systems’ deployment on borders is difficult to determine. In anticipation of such deployment, it is crucial that States account for and combat the disproportionate racial, ethnic and national origin impacts that fully autonomous weapons would have on vulnerable groups, especially refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and related groups. 17. Member States and multiple organs of the UN are increasingly relying on Big Data analytics to inform their policies. For example, the International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix33 monitors populations on the move to better predict the needs of displaced people, using mobile phone call records and geotagging, as well as analyses of social media activity. In the US, Big Data analytics are also being used to predict likely successful outcomes of resettled refugees based on pre-existing community links.34 In an increasingly anti-immigrant global landscape, criticisms have surfaced that migration data has also been misinterpreted and misrepresented for political ends, for example to affect the distribution of aid. Inaccurate data can also be used to stoke fear and xenophobia, as seen in the characterization of the group of migrants attempting to claim asylum at the US-Mexico border35 or the galvanization of anti-migrant sentiments in the Mediterranean, including the recently proposed floating barrier walls. 36 Societal fear is then used to justify increasingly hard-line responses that contravene international human rights law.37 As one submission notes, in polarized, anti-immigrant and even xenophobic political contexts, “the data used to inform machine learning algorithms at borders or used in political campaigns or legislation can be flawed, and in an environment of structural bias against minorities such misrepresentation of data can fuel disinformation, hate speech and violence.”38 18. Central to assessing the human rights landscape of digital borders is the role of private corporations whose pursuit of profit has played an important role in driving the expansion of digital technology in immigration and border enforcement, often in partnerships that allow governments to abdicate responsibility for violations that may result from the use of these technologies. The term “border industrial complex” has been used to describe “the nexus between border policing, militarisation and financial interest”39 as governments increasingly turn to the private sector to manage migration through new technologies, predominately through a national security lens that neglects fundamental human rights. 40 The externalization, militarization and automation of borders fuel the border industrialcomplex.41 In the U.S., the budget for border and immigration enforcement has increased by more than 6,000 % since 1980. 42 The EU budget for the management of external borders, migration and asylum for 2021-2027 will increase by 2.6 times, amounting to more than 34.9 billion Euros, compared to 13 billion Euros for 2014-2020.43 Recent market research projects the compound annual growth rate for this global border security market to be between 7.2 and 8.6 % (65 to 68 million US dollars) in 2025. 44 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, Submission. Ibid. https://dtm.iom.int/about. https://news.stanford.edu/2018/01/18/algorithm-improves-integration-refugees/. See New York University School of Law Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, Submission. https://www.dezeen.com/2020/02/10/greece-floating-sea-border-wall-news/. See also Ana Beduschi, “International Migration Management in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” (2020); Ana Beduschi, Submission. Minority Rights Group International (“MRG”), Submission. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/11/1/why-climate-action-needs-to-target-the-borderindustrial-complex/. Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran & Brami Jegan, Submission. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid., citing Global Reports Store, “Global Border Security System Industry is Estimated to Grow at a CAGR of 8.6 and Reach up to 67.81 Billion by 2025” (2019); Market Research Future, “Border Security Market Research Report—Global Forecast till 2025” (2019). 7