Joint Statement on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
First Committee, 77th United Nations General Assembly
Thematic Debate – Conventional Weapons
21 October 2022
Mr. Chair,
I have the honour of delivering this statement on behalf of 70 states:
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia,
Greene, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati,
Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco,
Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines,
Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Sierra Leone,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom,
United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Austria.
The research and development of new technologies is progressing at a rapid pace. New and
emerging technologies hold great promise for the advancement of human welfare and could
help to better protect civilians in conflict in certain circumstances.
However, the introduction of new technological applications, such as those related to
autonomy in weapon systems, also raise serious concerns from humanitarian, legal, security,
technological and ethical perspectives. We therefore see an urgent need for the
international community to further their understanding and address these risks and
challenges by adopting appropriate rules and measures, such as principles, good practices,
limitations and constraints.
We are committed to upholding and strengthening compliance with International Law, in
particular International Humanitarian Law (IHL), including through maintaining human
responsibility and accountability in the use of force.
Important work has been done and continues to be done under the UN Convention on
Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), including the endorsement in 2019 of the 11 Guiding
Principles that, inter alia, should continue to guide the work of the Group of Governmental
Experts (GGE) on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons
Systems. We are also encouraged that proposals on possible measures and options were
presented and discussed at the GGE.
Although it has proven difficult to translate progress made in the CCW’s discussions into
further concrete outcomes, the consideration of substantive proposals facilitated the
development of shared understandings and convergence on key substantive issues. This
included, in particular, the approach based on the prohibition of autonomous weapon
systems that cannot be used in compliance with IHL, and the regulation of other types of
autonomous weapon systems. States may have different understandings of terms like
human judgement, control or involvement. However, there is also a recognition, shared by
many, that the human element is and must remain central in the use of force.
Against this background, we emphasise the necessity for human beings to exert appropriate
control, judgement and involvement in relation to the use of weapons systems in order to
ensure any use is in compliance with International Law, in particular International
Humanitarian Law, and that humans remain accountable for decisions on the use of force.
Going forward, we recognise the importance of focusing efforts in particular on elaborating
the normative and operational framework regulating, where appropriate and necessary,
autonomous weapons including through internationally agreed rules and limits.
We also deem it important to further deepen our understanding of these issues. In this
regard we welcome the announcement of an international conference to be hosted by The
Netherlands on responsible military development, deployment and use of Artificial
Intelligence (AI), and the announcement of a regional conference, to be hosted by Costa
Rica, on the social and humanitarian impact of autonomous weapons. We also welcome the
work carried out by the Secretary General within the “Our Common Agenda” initiative to
develop an Agenda for Peace, which features lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS)
as one of the core areas. We call on the SG to continue to proactively engage on this
important issue, including by urging States to make progress towards an outcome at the
GGE.
International organisations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNIDIR, civil
society organisations and the tech community make important contributions to international
discussions on how to address issues related to emerging technologies and autonomy in
weapons systems, including the ethical, human rights, societal and technological dimension.
Their participation greatly enhances our ongoing discussions.
We urge High Contracting Parties to the CCW, together with all UN Member States, to
intensify consideration of this issue. We are committed to strengthen efforts to address the
issue of autonomy in weapon systems.
Thank you.