EU lines to take: Group of Governmental Experts on emerging technologies in the area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons System

At the outset, the EU takes this opportunity to congratulate you, Ambassador Flavio Damico, on your assumption of the Chair of the Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, and we wish you a successful work during the 2022 sessions.

You can count on the EU`s support. Thanks to your skilful leadership, we can finally embark on substantive work, although we deeply regret that we operate in an informal mode only. Formal discussions are important for placing official views on record, as well as for the transparency of our discussions and the inclusion of international organisations and civil society. Nevertheless, we are committed to contribute to advancing our work as mandated by the CCW Review Conference in December 2021.

We hope that in the next session, the commitment to multilateralism, the CCW and our work in the GGE LAWS will prevail, and we are looking forward to formal sessions in July in order for the group to achieve tangible results.

In this regard, we would like to seize this opportunity to thank Ambassador Mark Pecsteen of Belgium, as the GGE LAWS Chair in 2021, for his tremendous efforts to find consensus in relation to the clarification, consideration, and development of aspects of the normative and operational framework on emerging technologies in the area of LAWS and to achieve a good outcome last year. Furthermore, the EU highly appreciates the work of Ambassador Yann Hwang, Permanent Representative of France to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, in his capacity as the Chair of the 6th Review Conference of the CCW, in achieving the positive outcome of the Conference, including the adoption the new mandate of the GGE on LAWS.

The meeting takes place as the Russian military aggression rages on in Ukraine. The EU condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine, which grossly violates international law and the UN Charter and undermines international security and stability. The EU and its Member States express full solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and note that our work within the framework of the CCW to regulate the use of conventional weapons is now more important than ever. We regret that two days were lost due to procedural issues raised that fall outside the scope of the Convention.

The EU welcomes the work over the past years by the GGE on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) and acknowledges the substantial contribution it has made to our common understanding of this complex topic and to finding common ground. The past achievements, including the 11 guiding principles, previous outcome documents as well as the chair`s summary of the 2021 session, form a relevant basis for our deliberation.

The EU emphasises that it is important that the GGE continues its efforts and allows for progress. The EU underlines that the CCW is the relevant international forum in this regard. The EU remains committed to pursue its efforts in the GGE with a view to ensuring that the outcome reflects the necessity of compliance with International Law, in particular International Humanitarian Law, also taking into account ethical considerations.

The EU emphasises that human beings must make the decisions with regard to the use of lethal force, exert control over lethal weapons systems that they use and remain accountable for decisions over the use of force in order to ensure compliance with International Law, in particular International Humanitarian Law.

We hope that with the mandate adopted by consensus in 2021, we can achieve progress and deliver a substantial outcome to the CCW meeting of States Parties in November 2022. This is crucial for the future work on LAWS.

In this context, we would like to thank all delegations for presenting their working papers, including those by EU Member States submitted ahead of the 6th CCW Review Conference. A comprehensive approach to the complex issue of LAWS is necessary.

In conclusion, let us reiterate that we expect a formal substantive outcome of our work in 2022. We are convinced that we can achieve such a goal under your leadership.