Argentina

Argentina is a member of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and has participated in all CCW meetings on the issue of autonomous weapons systems. Argentina supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons.

In December 2025, Argentina abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 80/57 on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Mindful of the challenges and concerns autonomous weapons systems raise from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives, Resolution 80/57 stresses the urgent need for the CCW to address the challenges and concerns posed by autonomous weapons systems, and calls upon the High Contracting Parties of the CCW to “work towards completing the set of elements for an instrument being developed within the mandate of the Group of Governmental Experts, with a view to future negotiation.”

During the 80th Session of the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2025, Argentina stated ‘any regulatory development on these systems must be guided by the principles of distinction, proportionality, and human responsibility in the use of force’.^[1]Statement by Argentina UN General Assembly First Committee, 24 October 2025, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com25/statements/24Oct_Argentina.pdf

At the 79th UN General Assembly, Argentina voted in favour of Resolution L.77 on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Resolution L.77 raises concerns about the ‘negative consequences and impact of autonomous weapon systems on global security and regional and international stability’ and stresses ‘the importance of the role of humans in the use of force to ensure responsibility and accountability and for States to comply with international law.’ It also notes ‘the repeated calls by the Secretary-General to urgently conclude negotiations of a legally binding instrument with prohibitions and regulations for autonomous weapons systems, in line with a two-tier approach.’ The Resolution will convene open informal consultations in 2025 over two days in New York, ‘to consider the report of the Secretary-General in full complementarity with and in a manner that supports the fulfilment of the mandate of the Group of Governmental Experts in order to further the international community’s understanding of the issues involved by discussing the full range of views received, including proposals and relevant aspects raised in the report that may thus far not have been discussed in detail in the Group of Governmental Experts.’

Argentina made a submission to the UN Secretary-General pursuant to Resolution 78/241 on autonomous weapons systems in May 2024.

In December 2023, Argentina voted in support of UN General Assembly Resolution 78/241 on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Resolution 78/241 stressed the ‘urgent need for the international community to address the challenges and concerns raised by autonomous weapons systems’, and mandated the UN Secretary-General to prepare a report, reflecting the views of member and observer states on autonomous weapons systems and ways to address the related challenges and concerns they raise from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives and on the role of humans in the use of force.

Explaining its vote at the 78th Session of the UNGA First Committee, Argentina stated that it ‘shares the goal and the spirit of this draft resolution on lethal autonomous weapons systems, to give greater visibility to the issue and renew the impetus of current discussions’. Argentina also recognised the resolution’s ‘inclusive nature’, and said that it shares ‘the importance of having the views of all members and other interested parties who do not typically participate in discussions on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.’^[2]Statement by Argentina, UNGA First Committee, 01 November 2023, https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1t/k1t5mdoxcp. Please note that this link leads to the full recording of the relevant meeting Argentina also stated at First Committee in 2023 that it ‘reaffirms its commitment and recognizes the emerging challenges of technologies in the field of autonomous systems’,  and recalled ‘that Argentina, together with other countries, has submitted a proposal for a legally binding instrument in the form of an Additional Protocol to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, for the purpose of establishing prohibitions and regulations on emerging technologies in the field of autonomous lethal weapons.’^[3]Statement by Argentina, UNGA First Committee, 23 October 2023, https://docs-library.unoda.org/General_Assembly_First_Committee_-Seventy-Eighth_session_(2023)/Argentina.pdf

At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting, Argentina reaffirmed its ‘commitment to disarmament and conventional weapons regulation agreements, especially technology for autonomous weapons.'^[4]Statement by Argentina, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 06 October 2022, https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1b/k1bl8m8o2l; please note that this link leads to the full recording & … Continue reading

In the second session of the 2021 Group of Governmental Experts meeting on lethal autonomous weapons systems (GGE on LAWS), Argentina stated on behalf of a group of ten states that ‘the potential military applications of autonomous weapons systems and related technologies will make war more inhumane than it already is.’^[5]Statement by Argentina, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 27 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-27-09-2021-AM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading Adding to these concerns on the military use of autonomous technologies, it said ‘artificial intelligence has the capacity to fundamentally alter the nature of warfare and thus raises ethical, technical, moral, legal concerns, especially with regards to the full compliance with the norms and principles of international law.’ ^[6]Statement by Argentina, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 27 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-27-09-2021-AM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading

Argentina has further stated that ‘autonomous weapons systems of configurations that target, engage and apply force, inter alia, in deciding on the life of human beings without meaningful human control are unacceptable and must be prohibited under international law.’ ^[7]Statement by Argentina, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 27 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-27-09-2021-AM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading