Guatemala

Guatemala has participated in numerous Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons meetings on autonomous weapons systems. Guatemala supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

At the 2023 GGE on LAWS, Guatemala stated that ‘there needs to be a mandate for establishing a legally binding instrument under the framework of this Convention and it would contain prohibitions and regulations regarding autonomous weapon systems’.^[1]Statement by Guatemala, 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, 15 May … Continue reading

At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2022, Guatemala stated that ‘scientific advances and trade in artificial intelligence and the use of technology for the development of new weapons must be prohibited by means of a legally binding instrument. The commonly called “killer robots” or lethal autonomous weapons pose a serious danger to humanity if they are not controlled by a human being.'^[2]Statement by Guatemala, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 21 October 2022, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com22/statements/21Oct_Guatemala.pdf

Guatemala has also stressed the need for ‘human control, in particular when it comes to critical functions like selecting and engaging targets’ and has said that ‘a machine cannot make decisions of a human nature that imply legal principles of distinction or proportionality.’^[3]Statement by Guatemala, Meeting of CCW High Contracting Parties, 22 November 2018, … Continue reading 

At the Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in December 2021, Guatemala said that it supports ‘the need for an urgent decision to be made to start negotiation of a legally binding instrument that will prohibit the use of legal autonomous weapons systems and in doing so ensuring that no weapon or arm can operate without significant meaningful human oversight and control.’^[4]Statement by Guatemala, Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 13 December 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/RCHCP6-13-12-2021-AM_mp3_en.html; please note … Continue reading

Guatemala is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which also supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.