Brazil

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

During the March 2026 session of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems (GGE on LAWS), Brazil stated ‘last November, Brazil circulated a joint statement prepared in cooperation with co-drafters Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland, which characterized the previous version of the rolling text as a “sufficient basis for the negotiation of an instrument on lethal autonomous weapons systems.” The joint statement was co-signed by 42 High Contracting Parties to the Convention, which demonstrates the wide and cross regional support that the previous version of the rolling text had attained. In our national capacity, I would like to express our belief that the December 19th [2025] version continues to be a sufficient basis for such negotiations. The new version preserved all the important substantive elements of the previous iteration and introduced some improvements and language requirements. While there are still some areas that merit further work, we are convinced that we will arrive in September [2026] with a solid text; one that the GGE will be in position to submit to the Review Conference for use as a basis for a long overdue negotiation mandate.’ ^[1]Statement by Brazil, CCW GGE on LAWS, 2 March 2026, … Continue reading

In December 2025, Brazil 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.”

At the CCW GGE on LAWS in September 2025, Brazil delivered a joint statement on behalf of a group of 42 states 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, Brazil 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, Brazil stressed that ‘in the field of conventional weapons, the issue of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) is one of the most urgent and momentous on our agenda. The pace of development and deployment of such systems and related technologies has been relentless and shows no sign of abating, and their transformational impact is already being keenly felt in real-world conflicts.’ ^[2]Statement by Brazil, UN General Assembly First Committee, 24 October 2024

Brazil 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.’

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

In December 2023, Brazil 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.

At the 78th UN General Assembly First Committee, Brazil said that ‘as in every negotiating exercise regarding new weapons systems, there is a risk that the technological development outpaces diplomatic efforts.’^[3]Statement by Brazil, 78th UN General Assembly First Committee, 23 October 2023, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com23/statements/23Oct_Brazil.pdf At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting in October 2022, Brazil stressed ‘the need of a regulation that recognises the centrality of human control in the development and use of autonomous systems, in accordance with the norms and principles of International Humanitarian Law.'^[4]Statement by Brazil, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 21 October 2022, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com22/statements/21Oct_Brazil.pdf

At the 2021 CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (GGE on LAWS), Brazil stated that ‘without meaningful human control, the development, deployment, and use of autonomous weapons systems that can delegate decisions on duplication and execution of force to algorithms would undermine international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and in particular, violate the principle of human dignity.’^[5]Statement by Brazil on behalf of Chile, Mexico and Brazil, GGE on LAWS, 24 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-24-09-2021-AM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the … Continue reading

Brazil has also highlighted the risks of increasing autonomy in weapons systems, and said that ‘the characteristics and capabilities of AI enabled technology allow them to process and compute large quantities of information, they can systematically produce inputs for decision and action; however, the backside of this technology is that it can systematically increase unpredictability, escalate risks and perpetuate biases.’^[6]Statement by Brazil on behalf of Chile, Mexico and Brazil, GGE 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 … Continue reading

At the 2020 United Nations General Assembly First Committee, Brazil said that ‘the historical window for adopting an appropriate legal framework to regulate the issue of lethal autonomous weapons systems is narrowing quickly. Brazil believes that a legally binding instrument is the best option to ensure human control over critical functions in autonomous systems, which is paramount to prevent violations to international law.’^[7]Statement by Brazil, UN General Assembly First Committee, 12 October 2020,https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com20/statements/12Oct_Brazil.pdf

At the 2020 meeting of the CCW GGE on LAWS, Brazil stated that its position ‘ is crystal clear; there is a need for a legally binding instrument regulating lethal autonomous weapons systems. The rapid pace of technological development urges regulation before and not after deploying these new weapons. It is urgent to focus our energies towards building a legal framework to ensure the compliance of assistance with the international humanitarian law, international human rights law, the principle of humanity and the dictates of the public concerns.’^[8]Statement by Brazil, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 21 September 2020,http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/CCW-GGE-20200921-PM_mp3.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading