Colombia

Colombia has participated in multiple Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems. Colombia 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), Colombia stated that it ‘considers that the rolling text is a sufficient basis upon which to begin our next stage in this process, which we consider should be the negotiation of a legally binding instrument. Therefore, we have joined the call of other countries to that purpose.’ ^[1]Statement by Colombia, CCW GGE on LAWS, 2 March 2026, … Continue reading

In December 2025, Colombia 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, Colombia 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, Colombia 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.’

In April 2024, Colombia 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.’

In December 2023, Colombia 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 on autonomous weapons at First Committee in 2023, Colombia stressed that it is ‘urgent to continue the discussion on Autonomous Weapons Systems in a comprehensive and transparent manner’, and emphasised that autonomous weapons ‘must be regulated by a binding international instrument, prohibiting the development of fully autonomous weapons and regulating all other types of systems of autonomous weapons, in such a way that they have significant human control.’^[2]Statement by Colombia, UNGA First Committee, 09 October 2023, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com23/statements/9Oct_Colombia.pdf

At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting in October 2022, Colombia stated that ‘Given the concerns from the humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical that generate the introduction of new technological applications, such as autonomy in weapons systems, it is necessary to deepen the understanding and multilateral discussion on the risks and challenges that they pose, and adopt the necessary regulatory and principled measures.'^[3]Statement by Colombia, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 21 October 2022, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com22/statements/21Oct_Colombia.pdf

At the 2020 meetings of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS), Colombia said that ‘it is ‘convinced that regulation is essential to be able to move forward with peace of mind respecting the international standards in force, including international humanitarian law’.^[4]Statement by Colombia, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 22 September 2020, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/CCW-GGE-20200922-AM_mp3.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading

Colombia stated in the 2020 GGE on LAWS that ‘autonomous weapons systems must have a legally binding framework before that type of weapon system can be rolled out.’^[5]Statement by Colombia, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 22 September 2020, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/CCW-GGE-20200922-AM_mp3.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading

Colombia is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument. At the Sixth Review Conference of the CCW in December 2021, the Non-Aligned Movement stated that ‘there is an urgent need to pursue a legally binding instrument under the Convention that will contain prohibitions and regulations for addressing the humanitarian and international security challenges posed by emerging technologies in the area of LAWS.’^[6]Statement by the Non-Aligned Movement, Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 13 December 2021, … Continue reading