Portugal

Portugal has participated in all Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems. Portugal supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

During the March 2026 session of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems (GGE on LAWS), Portugal stated the ‘rolling text’ provides ‘very balanced and oriented elements towards the negotiation of a future convention; a future protocol eventually, as we hope it will. We do agree that the ruling text provides a broad scope. It’s technologically neutral, it’s future proof, and so it is indeed a very good basis.’ ^[1]Statement by Portugal, CCW GGE on LAWS, 2 March 2026, … Continue reading

In December 2025, Portugal 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, Portugal 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, Portugal 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, Portugal emphasised that ‘it is crucial that the GGE delivers as soon as possible by answering the call of the Secretary-General to conclude a legally binding instrument by 2026.'^[2]Statement by Portugal, 79th UNGA First Committee, 24 October 2024, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com24/statements/24Oct_Portugal.pdf

In 2024, Portugal endorsed the Chair’s Summary of the 2024 Vienna conference ‘Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation’ . The Chair’s Summary affirms the ‘strong commitment’ of the endorsing states to ‘work with urgency and with all interested stakeholders for an international legal instrument to regulate autonomous weapons systems.’

In December 2023, Portugal 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 Ibero-American Summit, Portugal endorsed the Summit’s Communiqué on the social and humanitarian impact of autonomous weapons, which states that ‘the delegates of the Ibero-American States recognise the need for new actions to: Collaborate to promote the negotiation of a legally binding international instrument, with prohibitions and regulations regarding autonomy in weapons systems, in order to ensure compliance with International Law, including International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, ethical perspectives, as well as the prevention of the social and humanitarian impact that autonomy entails in weapons systems.’

At the 2020 meeting of the GGE on LAWS, Portugal said that ‘simply agreeing that international law applies to LAWS is not enough’ and that the GGE on LAWS must engage in a ‘strong discussion’ on identifying and interpreting these concrete international norms’ and ‘assessing the existing international law in order to find possible gaps that might call for an international binding instrument on LAWS.’^[3]Statement by Portugal, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 22 September 2020, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/CCW-GGE-20200922-AM_mp3.html; please note that this link leads to the full … Continue reading

At the 2019 meeting of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS), Portugal said that discussions on autonomous weapons and the future of warfare are ‘no longer science fiction but a reality with a great potential of impact in human societies.’ In the same statement, Portugal also stated that ‘It is of utmost importance to safeguard the inherently human characteristics in the selection and/or attack of legitimate targets. The foreseeable further automatisation of decision-making when targets are being selected and/or engaged may challenge human characteristics and behaviours intrinsic to this process.’^[4]Statement by Portugal, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 25 March 2019, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/ccw/2019/gge/statements/25March_Portugal5d.pdf At the 77th UN General Assembly First Committee meeting in October 2022, Portugal said that it welcomes ‘the work of the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems and hope for consensus recommendations regarding the development of a normative and operational framework.'^[5]Statement by Portugal, 77th UN General Assembly First Committee, 11 October 2022, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com22/statements/11Oct_Portugal.pdf