Jamaica

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

In December 2025, Jamaica 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.’

During the 80th Session of the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2025, Jamaica stated that autonomous weapons ‘pose new and profound challenges to international security. If not properly regulated, these systems could lead to unintended escalations of conflict, erode accountability and undermine international humanitarian law. We support ongoing discussions on LAWS and reiterate the CARICOM call for the development of appropriate legally binding norms’. ^[1]Statement by Jamaica 27 October 2025, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com25/statements/27Oct_Jamaica.pdf

At the 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Jamaica 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, Jamaica 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.

Speaking on behalf of the CARICOM community at First Committee in 2023, Jamaica stated that ‘it is becoming increasingly evident that new technological applications, such as autonomous decision-making in weapons systems (AWS), also raise significant legal, ethical and moral concerns’, and noted that ‘CARICOM Member States are concerned that such weapons systems may have detrimental implications on the maintenance of international peace and security, as well as the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.’ Jamaica further underscored that ‘CARICOM Member States join other States in their efforts to negotiate an international legally binding instrument that prohibits uncontrollable autonomous weapons systems capable of using force independent of human control’. The CARICOM community also recognised and supported ‘the call issued by the Secretary-General through ‘The New Agenda for Peace’ for States to adopt such a treaty to prohibit and regulate autonomous weapons systems by 2026. The CARICOM member states also acknowledged ‘the important work undertaken on this issue within the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)’, but emphasized ‘the need to broaden the discussion to accommodate potential negotiations regarding an international legally binding instrument, which would incorporate prohibitions and regulations on autonomous weapons systems.’^[2]Statement by Jamaica on behalf of CARICOM, UNGA First Committee, 24 October 2023. https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com23/statements/24Oct_CARICOM.pdf

At the 2023 CARICOM conference on the human impacts of autonomous weapons, Jamaica joined the CARICOM Declaration on Autonomous Weapons Systems, stating its commitment to ‘support the indispensability of meaningful human control over the use of force and thereby encourage the pursuit of an international legally binding instrument which incorporates prohibitions and regulations on AWS’, and to ‘collaborate on endeavours aimed at negotiating an international legally binding instrument that prohibits unpredictable or uncontrollable AWS capable of using force without meaningful human control, and prohibit those designed or employed to apply force against persons, while implementing regulations for other forms of AWS’.^[3]CARICOM Declaration on Autonomous Weapons Systems, https://www.caricom-aws2023.com/_files/ugd/b69acc_c1ffb97ed9024930a3205ae4e34c1b45.pdf

In July 2021, a working paper on behalf of the NAM and other States Parties to the CCW was submitted to the GGE on LAWS, which 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

In a statement delivered by the government of Antigua and Barbuda at the United Nations General Assembly First Committee Meeting on 25 October 2019, CARICOM said that ‘we must remain vigilant in our understanding of new and emerging weapons technologies’.^[5]Statement delivered by Antigua and Barbuda on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), UN General Assembly First Committee , 25 October 2019, https://media.un.org/en/asset/k10/k106jlrx1l; … Continue reading