Qatar

Qatar has attended some Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems. Qatar supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. Qatar is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and of the Arab Group, both of which support the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

At the March 2023 meetings of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (GGE on LAWS), Qatar delivered a statement on behalf of the Arab Group, in which the group stated that autonomous weapons raise ‘moral, technical and human questions, not to mention issues of international peace and security’, and said that ‘we must limit and outlaw the utilisation of such systems.’ The statement reiterated ‘the importance of maintaining meaningful human control’ to limit the ‘negative impact’ of such systems, and called for ‘an international legally binding instrument.'^[1]Statement by Qatar on behalf of the Arab Group, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, March 2023, https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1al2nqtt6; please note that this link leads to the full video … Continue reading

At the 2021 meeting of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (GGE on LAWS), in a working paper submitted by the group, the NAM stated that ‘there is an urgent need to pursue a legally binding instrument under the Convention that will contain prohibitions and regulations for addressing the humanitarian and international security challenges posed by emerging technologies in the area of LAWS.’^[2]Non-Aligned Movement Geneva Chapter, Working paper submitted by the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and other states parties to the Convention on Certain … Continue reading