Autonomous weapons at the 79th United Nations General Assembly First Committee

The 79th UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security came to a close last week, following four weeks of discussion on disarmament-related matters.

The increasing attention given to the topic of autonomous weapons, and the demonstrably urgent need for their prohibition and regulation, was apparent in the time and attention devoted to the issue at First Committee by states this year:

• There were 120 statements from 80 states mentioning autonomous weapons in a national capacity, and 131 statements in total on AWS including the statements delivered by groups of states – i.e. the African Group, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM); international organisations and institutions i.e. the EU, the ICRC, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and the Chair of the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. This is a significant increase in statements in a national capacity from previous years, demonstrating the continuing growth in international attention on autonomous weapons – our monitoring in 2023 tracked 64 states (25% increase), and in 2022 tracked 54 states (48% increase).
• 161 states voted in favour of Draft Resolution L.77, with 3 against and 13 abstaining.
• There were 10 explanation of vote statements on L.77, with Iran delivering an explanation before the vote, and Pakistan, South Africa, France (on behalf of a group of states), India, Egypt, China, Türkiye, Israel, and the United States (on behalf of a group of states) delivering explanations after the vote. 
• 53 non-states parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons voted in favour of the resolution.
• 15 non-states parties to the CCW delivered national statements mentioning autonomous weapons

On the 5th November, the First Committee adopted a resolution on autonomous weapons systems for the second year running, mindful of the “serious challenges and concerns that new and emerging technological applications in the military domain, including those related to artificial intelligence and autonomy in weapons systems, [raise] from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives.” For more on Resolution L.77, see Stop Killer Robots’ post here.

The voting result on Resolution L.77 was 161 states in favour and 3 against, with 13 abstentions. Region-specific breakdowns as follows:

• Africa: 54 states in total.
  • Statements: 19 African states made statements (24 statements, one of which was African Group statement)
  • Voting:  46 votes in favour; 8 did not vote.
• Asia: 31 states in total.
  • Statements: 14 Asian states made statements (25 statements: 21 national statements + 2 NAM and 2 ASEAN statements); 
  • Voting: 25 votes in favour, 2 abstentions, 1 against, 3 did not vote.
• CARICOM: 14 states in total. 
  • Statements: 5 states made statements (9 statements: 7 national statements, 2 CARICOM statements). 
  • Voting: 12 in favour, 2 did not vote.
• Europe: 47 states in total. 
  • Statements: 24 states made statements (incl. Holy See), 40 statements (39 national statements, 1 Nordic states statement).
  • Voting: 37 in favour; 7 abstentions, 2 against, 1 non-voting member.
• Latin America: 19 states in total. 
  • Statements: 13 states made national statements (19 statements). 
  • Voting: 17 in favour, 2 did not vote.
• Middle East: 14 states in total. 
  • Statements: 3 states made national statements (3 statements). 
  • Voting: 9 votes in favour, 4 abstaining, 1 non-voting member.
• North America: 2 states in total.
  • Statements: 2 states made national statements (3 statements). 
  • Voting: 2 votes in favour.
• Pacific: 14 states in total. 
  • Statements: 3 Pacific states made statements (6 statements); 
  • Voting: 13 votes in favour; one did not vote.

For more information on state positions on the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons, see our State Positions Monitor. Further detail on discussions related to autonomous weapons (and other disarmament issues) during First Committee are available in Reaching Critical Will’s First Committee Monitor.