II. Intergovernmental efforts to address the challenges posed by autonomous weapon systems

Chapter:

13. Conventional arms control and regulation of new weapon technologies

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2022

Author(s):

Ian Davis

The legal, ethical and security challenges posed by autonomous weapon systems (AWS) have since 2014 been the subject of intergovernmental discussions within the framework of the 1981 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW Convention) under the auspices of the United Nations.¹ Since 2017, the discussions have been led by an open-ended group of governmental experts (GGE). The GGE was initially mandated to ‘explore and agree on possible recommendations on options related to emerging technologies in the area of LAWS [lethal autonomous weapon systems]’.² After an amendment to its mandate in 2019, the GGE was also tasked with considering, clarifying and possibly further developing aspects of the relevant normative and operational framework.³ A central question that has divided the GGE from the start relates to the extent to which the existing normative and operational framework needs to be clarified and further developed. That is, whether the existing rules of International law provide a sufficiently clear regulatory framework or whether new (legally binding) rules, standards or best practices are required to address the challenges associated with the use of AWS.