Supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument.
Guatemala is a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Guatemala supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.
In December 2025, Guatemala 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, Guatemala 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, Guatemala 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.’
Guatemala made a submission to the UN Secretary-General pursuant to Resolution 78/241 on autonomous weapons systems in May 2024.
In December 2023, Guatemala 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.
During the First Committee in 2023, Guatemala stated that they ‘condemn the use of any weapon with indiscriminate effects, scientific and commercial advances in the field of artificial intelligence and the use of technology for the development of new armaments. These must be prohibited by means of a legally binding instrument including Lethal Autonomous Weapons.’ [1]Statement by Guatemala, UNGA First Committee, 5 October 2023, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com23/statements/5Oct_Guatemala.pdf
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’.[2]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.'[3]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
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 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.’[5]Statement by Guatemala, Meeting of CCW High Contracting Parties, 22 November 2018,https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/ccw/2018/hcp-meeting/statements/22Nov_Guatemala.pdf
References