Iraq

Iraq is a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), and has attended all CCW meetings on autonomous weapons systems since 2016. Iraq supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. Iraq is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Arab Group within the UN, both of which support the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons.

In December 2025, Iraq 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, Iraq 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, Iraq reiterated that legally binding provisions are needed to address the risks and challenges posed by autonomous weapons.^[1]Statement by Iraq, 79th UNGA First Committee, 24 October 2024

In December 2023, Iraq 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 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, Iraq said that ‘the negotiations of the GGE should lead to adopting a legally binding international instrument’.^[2]Statement by Iraq, CCW GGE on LAWS, 6 March 2023, https://conf.unog.ch/digitalrecordings/index.html?guid=public/61.0500/1A5B752B-9442-4C31-92D9-5EA184E502A9_10h11&position=8989&channel=ENGLISH

Iraq has stated that ‘all weapons, including autonomous ones, should remain under the control and direct supervision of human beings’, and that ‘delegating a life or death decision to machines is a serious violation of international humanitarian law’.^[3]Statement by Iraq, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 03 August 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-03-08-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading

At the 2021 meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (GGE on LAWS), Iraq stated that ‘we must adopt preventive measures governing the use of this category of weapons in the potential wars of the future’, and renewed its commitment ‘towards negotiations being held… so that at the end of the day we can adopt a legally binding instrument to govern this category of weapons.’^[4]Statement by Iraq, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 02 December 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS3-02-12-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading