Palestine

Palestine has participated in all Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems since 2015.

Palestine supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. At the 2023 meeting of the CCW GGE on LAWS, Palestine said that, in order to deal with the risks posed by autonomous weapons systems, ‘prohibitions and regulations are required. Prohibitions are required on the development and use of autonomous weapon systems that 1) are designed or used to target humans directly; 2) cannot be used with meaningful human control. Meaningful human control requires that the autonomous weapon system must be predictable, reliable, understandable, and explainable and traceable. Regulations including both positive obligations and limits are required to ensure that autonomous weapon systems can be used with meaningful human control. The combination of prohibitions and regulations should be in the form of an international legally binding instrument.'^[1]Statement by the State of Palestine, CCW GGE on LAWS, 6 March 2023,  … Continue reading

At the 2021 meeting of the CCW GGE on LAWS, Palestine stated that ‘the unacceptable risks posed by lethal autonomous weapons systems necessitate the creation of a legally binding instrument’.^[2]Statement by Palestine, 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 Palestine has also stated that fully autonomous weapons systems must be ‘outright prohibited’, and so must ‘unpredictable autonomous weapons systems, as they cannot be meaningfully controlled’, and noted that ‘even if they operate under meaningful human control, some autonomous weapons are still wholly unacceptable, both legally and morally, and must also be prohibited. This includes all LAWS designed or used to target human beings.’^[3]Statement by Palestine, 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 Palestine is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which also supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.^[4]Statement by the Non-Aligned Movement, Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 13 December 2021, … Continue reading

At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting in October 2022, Palestine said that ‘The rapid development of autonomous weapons systems poses ethical, legal, humanitarian, moral, as well as international peace and security related challenges that require the urgent development of a legally binding instrument. The Joint Statement on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems delivered by Austria on behalf of 70 states, including the State of Palestine, recognizes these challenges, and the need to maintain human responsibility and accountability, and for internationally agreed rules and limits, including prohibitions and regulations.'^[5]Statement by Palestine, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 24 October 2022, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com22/statements/24Oct_Palestine.pdf Speaking on behalf of a group of ten states during the 2021 meeting of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS), Palestine stated that ‘all autonomous weapons pose serious risks to compliance with IHL’, whether classified as ‘lethal or non-lethal’, noting that ‘lethality is not an intrinsic characteristic of a weapon system, but rather an effect, a manner of use’.^[6]Statement by Palestine on behalf of Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Sierra Leone, Uruguay, El Salvador and Palestine, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 24 September 2021, … Continue reading Palestine has also noted that autonomous weapons systems present ‘wider ethical and humanitarian challenges that transcend the legal framework under IHL’, including challenges to human dignity, the loss of human agency in decisions to use force, and the erosion of moral responsibility for these decisions.’^[7]Statement by Palestine on behalf of Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Sierra Leone, Uruguay, El Salvador and Palestine, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 24 September 2021, … Continue reading