Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons -Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (2025)

Overview

The 2024 Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) decided to organize "the Group of Governmental Experts of the High Contracting Parties related to emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), for a duration of 10 days, from 3-7 March 2025 and from 1-5 September 2025" (CCW/MSP/2024/7, paragraph 27 (c)). The Meeting also adopted the relevant cost estimates for 2025 as contained in CCW/MSP/2024/5.

The 2024 Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW recalled the following decision taken by the 2023 Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW: "(...) the work of the open-ended Group of Governmental Experts related to emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapon systems established by Decision 1 of the Fifth Review Conference as contained in document CCW/CONF.V/10, adhering to the agreed recommendations contained in document CCW/CONF.V/2, is to continue, to strengthen the Convention. In the context of the objectives and purpose of the Convention, the Group is to further consider and formulate, by consensus, a set of elements of an instrument, without prejudging its nature, and other possible measures to address emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapon systems, taking into account the example of existing Protocols within the Convention, proposals presented by High Contracting Parties and other options related to the normative and operational framework on emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapon systems, building upon the recommendations and conclusions of the Group, and bringing in expertise on legal, military, and technological aspects." (CCW/MSP/2024/7, paragraph 22).

On 28 January 2025, the CCW Implementation Support Unit circulated an aide-mémoire providing information on attending the first 2025 session of the GGE on LAWS.

Documents

CCW/GGE.1/2025/1 - Provisional agenda

CCW/GGE.1/2025/2 - Provisional programme of work

Multimedia

[WRITTEN TRANSCRIPT] Audio recordings and unofficial automatically generated transcripts of the meeting are available here.

Side Events

March2025

Bias in AWS and Compliance with IHL: Addressing a Missing LinkSide-event organized by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Concerns around bias are often mentioned in the AWS policy debate, still, the topic is rarely considered in-depth. One important, yet largely underexplored, aspect concerns what challenges bias in AWS poses to compliance with IHL. While a few states have mentioned that ‘considerations of bias are important to ensure IHL compliance,’ a deeper understanding of the legal implications of bias in AWS is needed. This side event aims to address the missing link. It will feature a panel with speakers from the ICRC, Panama, Pakistan and the UK and an open discussion with the audience.

13:00-15:00Room XXI

March2025

Application of international humanitarian law in the relation to lethal autonomous weapons systemsSide-event organized by UNIDIR.

While there is general agreement on the applicability of international humanitarian law in relation to lethal autonomous weapons systems, its interpretation and application may present geographical and sectoral differences and variations. As such, UNIDIR has been implementing a project seeking to take stock on existing approaches, interpretations and applications of international humanitarian law as it currently stands in relation to lethal autonomous weapons systems. This side-event will present some key insights from the project, specifically from two outputs: 1) Key findings from a background paper, to be launched at the side-event, summarizing existing views reflected in States' public statements, academic scholarship and grey literature; and 2) The organization of regional consultations on the application of international humanitarian law in relation to lethal autonomous weapons systems, namely in Western Europe and North America; Latin America and the Caribbean; Africa; and the Asia-Pacific. Representatives from the Netherlands, Brazil, South Africa and Singapore will be sharing their reflections, in addition to members of the UNIDIR project team.

13:00-15:00Room XXIII