Ghana

Ghana is not a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). However, Ghana has participated in a number of CCW meetings on autonomous weapons systems since 2014 and welcomed the opportunity to be able to articulate its views on autonomous weapon systems at a 2016 CCW meeting. Ghana supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. Ghana is a member of the African Group within the United Nations, and is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, both of which support 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), Ghana stated ‘the issue of lethal autonomous weapons raises profound legal, ethical, security questions. We are of the view that any system capable of identifying, selecting, and engaging targets without direct human intervention must be subject to strict and clear limits. Context appropriate human judgment and control are not optional safeguards. They are essential requirements to ensure compliance with the principles of distinction, proportionality, precautions in attack. Mr. Chairman, Ghana supports the development, by consensus, of a robust and legally grounded instrument within the framework of the Convention. Such an instrument should include clear prohibition on systems that are inherently indiscriminate, that cannot be used in compliance with international humanitarian law, or whose effects cannot be sufficiently anticipated and limited. It should also establish binding obligations regarding legal reviews, responsible chain of command, and effective accountability mechanisms.’ ^[1]Statement by Ghana, CCW GGE on LAWS, 6 March 2026, … Continue reading

In December 2025, Ghana 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 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Ghana 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, Ghana said that autonomous weapons systems ‘raise serious humanitarian, legal, and ethical questions, which must be addressed through clear regulations’, and underlined that ‘as highlighted in the joint call of the UN Secretary-General and the ICRC, new prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapons are needed to mitigate the risks they pose to international security.'^[2]Statement by Ghana, 79th UNGA First Committee, 24 October 2024, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com24/statements/24Oct_Ghana.pdf

In December 2023, Ghana 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.

In its statement at the 2016 CCW informal meeting of experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems, Ghana stated that ‘we need to avoid moving in this direction of self-perfection to the promotion and preservation of human dignity for humanity as a whole. History confirms that today’s victim can become tomorrow’s perpetrator, especially, when we take into consideration the ever increasing development and spread of technology… In our view fully automated lethal systems must be proscribed before they are fully developed’.^[3]Statement by Ghana to the Convention on Conventional Weapons informal meeting of experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems, April 2016, … Continue reading