Belgium

Belgium is a member of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and has participated in all CCW meetings on autonomous weapons systems since 2014. Belgium supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

In December 2025, Belgium co-sponsored and voted in favour of 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, Belgium ‘advocate[d] for human accountability in the development, deployment, and use of military artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems. Decisions involving the use of force must remain under meaningful human control’.^[1]Statement by Belgium, UN General Assembly First Committee, 24 October 2026, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com25/statements/24Oct_Belgium.pdf

At the CCW GGE on LAWS in September 2025, Belgium joined a group of 42 states delivering a joint statement calling for the group to begin negotiations of an instrument on the basis of its ‘rolling text,’ and stating that they were ready to do this.

At the 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Belgium co-sponsored and voted in favour of Draft Resolution L.77 on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Draft 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.’

Speaking at the UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Belgium emphasised that ‘Scientific development is outpacing regulations in the field of autonomous weapon systems. Innovative systems and artificial intelligenc are being introduced on the battlefield. Now is the time for a normative framework, if we wish to regulate the development and use of these systems before being confronted with a fait accompli.'^[2]Statement by Belgium, UN General Assembly First Committee, 14 October 2024

Belgium endorsed the Chair’s Summary of the 2024 Vienna conference ‘Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation’ . The Chair’s Summary affirms the ‘strong commitment’ of the endorsing states to ‘work with urgency and with all interested stakeholders for an international legal instrument to regulate autonomous weapons systems.’

At the 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, Belgium stated that the conception, development, deployment and use of autonomous weapons systems will have ‘profound consequences on the nature of war, as well as on human life and dignity’. ^[3]Statement by Belgium, 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, 17 May 2023, … Continue reading

In December 2023, Belgium 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.

Speaking at First Committee in 2023, Belgium stated that ‘We also express our support for the resolution on Autonomous Weapon Systems, introduced by Austria, of which Belgium is an original co-sponsor. At the same time, we will continue efforts within the CCW to foster consensus on a normative framework regarding autonomous weapons systems.’^[4]Statement by Belgium, UNGA First Committee, October 2023.https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com23/statements/10Oct_Belgium.pdf

At the domestic level, the Belgian parliament voted unanimously in 2018 in favour of a ban on autonomous weapon systems.^[5]See: PAX (2018), ‘Belgium votes to ban killer robots’, https://paxforpeace.nl/news/overview/belgium-votes-to-ban-killer-robots In 2021, Belgium held public hearings on a resolution to add autonomous weapon systems to Belgium’s law on prohibited weapons, and a resolution calling for Belgian leadership in the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons.^[6]See: Article 36 (2021), ‘Leadership at the Belgian parliament on regulating autonomous weapons’, … Continue reading