Dominica

Dominica is not a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Dominica supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. It is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which also supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapon systems.

At the 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Dominica did not record a vote for 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.’

Dominica has endorsed the CARICOM Declaration on Autonomous Weapons Systems, stating its commitment to ‘support the indispensability of meaningful human control over the use of force and thereby encourage the pursuit of an international legally binding instrument which incorporates prohibitions and regulations on AWS’, and to ‘collaborate on endeavours aimed at negotiating an international legally binding instrument that prohibits unpredictable or uncontrollable AWS capable of using force without meaningful human control, and prohibit those designed or employed to apply force against persons, while implementing regulations for other forms of AWS’.^[1]CARICOM Declaration on Autonomous Weapons Systems, https://www.caricom-aws2023.com/_files/ugd/b69acc_c1ffb97ed9024930a3205ae4e34c1b45.pdf

At UNGA First Committee in 2023, CARICOM, in a statement delivered by Jamaica, underlined that ‘the introduction of new technological applications, such as those related to autonomy in weapon systems, and lack of human control in the decision-making processes of these weapons, raises serious concerns from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives.’^[2]Statement by Jamaica on behalf of CARICOM, UNGA First Committee, 02 October 2023. https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1z/k1zwe7y41m