Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Human Rights Watch welcomes the years of work that you and the Group of Governmental Experts have put in to discussing elements of a new instrument on lethal autonomous weapons system.
The draft text's structure of prohibitions and regulations with an emphasis on the role of humans in the use of force provides a valuable framework for addressing many of the concerns raised by autonomous weapons systems.
We urge states this week to adopt the draft text in either its current form or a stronger one. Anything less would undo the progress that they have made over 12 years of discussion under the CCW's auspices and three years of drafting under this mandate.
Among the key elements to maintain is paragraph 36, which recognizes the need for human control and judgment. The paragraph enumerates several components of that concept including:
- Oversight by a "responsible chain of command" to ensure that a human can assess compliance with legal obligations and ethical considerations;
- Operational restrictions, such as those on scale, type of target, time, space, and number of engagements;
- Assurances that only a human can change the system's target and mission parameters; and
- The ability to deactivate or neutralize the autonomous weapon system.
We recommend that those points be retained. And while many of the revisions proposed in the chair's paper effectively fine tune the language, we also strongly recommend that the word "human" is linked to both "judgment" and "control."
We also welcome the inclusion in paragraph 35 of the language "with applicable international law, in particular IHL" because it recognizes there are multiple areas of relevant international law, including international human rights law and is consistent with earlier CCW documents on LAWS, such as the 2024 guiding principles.
There are additional elements of the text that are important to preserve, such as: references to preventing and mitigating bias; provisions to ensure that autonomous weapons systems are predictable, reliable, traceable, and explainable; and measures to promote accountability.
There are other details that could be refined, and some areas that should be strengthened, notably the prohibitions should extend to autonomous weapons systems that target people and there should be references to international human rights law. But these changes can wait for negotiations.
In the meantime, high contracting parties should hold their ground, embrace their accomplishments by adopting the draft text, and take a concrete step forward at the Review Conference by adopting a mandate to start negotiations.
Thank you.
