The 2023 UN CCW Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on autonomous weapons concluded in the early hours of Saturday, 20th May – agreeing on another disappointing report that did little to reflect the real progress many states have made in their thinking and commitment on this issue. Earlier on the Friday of the 19th, the meeting had ejected observer states, international organisations and civil society from the discussions at the insistence of Russia.

The main substantive conclusion of the group was that: “weapons systems based on emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems must not be used if they are incapable of being used in compliance with international humanitarian law”. This circular formulation makes a mockery of claims by states like the UK, Germany and France that the CCW is the place to address this issue.

The only significant content agreed upon was that states should “where necessary” impose limits on the types of target, duration, and geographic scope of a system’s functioning – and on “the scale of operations of the weapons system.” Some of the same European states will likely cling to these weakly formulated scraps as evidence of progress. In reality, it is simply a well-calibrated playing out of the line by Russia and the USA in order to keep other states on the hook. Agreeing to nothing would make an alternative process more likely, so it is interesting that Russia, China and India, along with the USA, chose to allow these small approximations of substance – perhaps indicating that they all have some fear of normative development in this area.

Of course, this outcome was always to be expected – and it shouldn’t present a direct barrier to the establishment of a parallel process of work elsewhere. With more states indicating their belief that an instrument should be negotiated, the challenge is to build confidence amongst a cross-regional group that action can be taken on this issue. States that claim to be committed to international rules and norms need to stop exploiting the CCW’s codes of procedure to justify their own inaction (and their own lack of diplomatic confidence). Instead, they need to use UN structures like the General Assembly that can provide a more inclusive and democratic mode of work.

With the CCW’s GGE work now done for 2023, there is some space to start building partnerships in that direction before the UN General Assembly in October.

Featured image: UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré