Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and has attended some of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts meetings on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS) since 2014. The Dominican Republic supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. The Dominican Republic is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

In December 2025, Dominican Republic 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, Dominican Republic 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, Dominican Republic 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.

In December 2023, The Dominican Republic 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, NAM stated that it welcomed efforts towards a ‘new legally-binding provisions for addressing the humanitarian and international security challenges posed by emerging technologies in the area of LAWS.^[1]Statement by NAM, 20 October 2023, 78th UN General Assembly First Committee, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com23/statements/20Oct_NAM.pdf

At the first session of the CCW GGE on LAWS in March 2023, the Dominican Republic said that it fully supports having negotiations ‘with the view of concluding a legally binding instrument that contains restrictions on weapons systems with different levels of autonomy.’ ^[2]Statement by the Dominican Republic, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, March 2023, https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1ativ5rty; please note that this link leads to the full video recording … Continue reading At the same meeting, the NAM statement, delivered on behalf of the group by Venezuela, stated that ‘The NAM States Parties and Other States Parties to the CCW are of the view that given the substantive discussions in the GGE on LAWS, 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. The recommendations in relation to the normative and operational framework must lead to such an instrument.^[3]Statement on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and Other States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) by the Delegation of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, CCW … Continue reading

 In July 2021, a working paper on behalf of the NAM and other States Parties to the CCW was submitted to the Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, stated that ‘a strengthened and reinforced multilateral approach, with new legally-binding provisions for addressing the humanitarian and international security challenges posed by emerging technologies in the area of LAWS, is vital. There is an urgent need to pursue a legally-binding instrument on LAWS’.^[4]Working paper submitted by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, June 2021, … Continue reading