Supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument.
Belgium has participated in all Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems since 2014. Belgium has 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’. [1]Statement by Belgium, 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, 17 May 2023, … Continue reading
Belgium supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. At the 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, Belgium stated that it hopes that recent initiatives on autonomous weapons on autonomous weapons, as well as the results of the CCW GGE on LAWS, would lead to the negotiation of a legally binding instrument to prohibit and regulate autonomous weapons systems [2]Statement by Belgium, 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, 17 May 2023, … Continue reading
At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting in 2022, Belgium said that it would further ‘efforts to foster consensus on a normative framework regarding autonomous weapons systems, as we have done in the past.'[3]Statement by Belgium, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 12 October 2022, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com22/statements/12Oct_Belgium.pdf
In a joint written contribution to the 2020 meeting of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS), Belgium highlighted a number of issues relevant to developments in autonomy in weapons systems, including predictability and reliability, meaningful human control, human responsibility, and accountability, and stated that it is ‘of the view that a normative and operational framework should ensure that human control is exerted and retained over critical functions of any weapons system based on emerging technologies in the area of LAWS.’[4]Joint Commentary on Guiding Principles A, B, C, and D, submitted by Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Ireland, Germany, Luxembourg, Mexico, and New Zealand, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, … Continue reading
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
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