San Marino

San Marino is not a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). San Marino supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

In December 2025, San Marino co-sponsored and 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, San Marino stated ‘we must ensure that human control is preserved over life and death decisions. The increasing use of autonomous weapons systems, which challenge human control over the use of force, has deepened humanitarian, legal, ethical, technological, security and human rights concerns. San Marino believes that international regulations of autonomous weapons systems are urgently needed, due to their rapid advancement and to their increasing use on the battlefield. We therefore support the starting of negotiations for a legally binding instrument, which should be based on the two-tier approach, to set clear prohibitions and restrictions’.^[1]Statement by San Marino, 15 October 2025, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com25/statements/15Oct_SanMarino.pdf

At the 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, San Marino 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, San Marino reiterated that it ‘supports the Secretary-General’s call for the negotiation of a new legally binding instrument on autonomous weapon systems by 2026.’ San Marino further emphasised that ‘This is indeed a very urgent matter.'^[2]Statement by San Marino, 79th UNGA First Committee, 16 October 2024

In 2024, San Marino 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, San Marino 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 78th UN General Assembly First Committee in 2023, San Marino stated that:

‘The rapid advances in artificial intelligence have led to concerning levels of autonomy in conflict, with autonomous weapons systems able to independently choose and attack targets without human control. The increasing use of such weapons deepens moral, legal, ethical and humanitarian concerns: substituting human decisions about life and death with software and digital systems is morally and legally unacceptable. The UN Secretary General, in the New Agenda for Peace, called on all States to adopt a legal treaty to prohibit and regulate autonomous weapons systems by 2026. San Marino firmly believes that there is an urgent need to adopt international legal regulations on autonomous weapons. Human beings must exert appropriate control in relation to the use of weapons system in order to ensure accountability and responsibility on the use of force.'^[3]Statement by San Marino, UN General Assembly First Committee, 06 October 2023, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com23/statements/6Oct_SanMarino.pdf

San Marino also spoke on autonomous weapons systems in 2021 and 2020. At the 2021 UN General Assembly First Committee meeting, San Marino said that ‘the proliferation of armed drones and of autonomous weapons are creating ethical and legal concerns. We believe that a broader multilateral reflection should be undertaken in these fields.’^[4]Statement by San Marino, UN General Assembly First Committee, 07 October 2021, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com21/statements/7Oct_SanMarino.pdf At the 2020 meeting, San Marino stated that it is ‘concerned for the consequences of the application of technology and artificial intelligence in weapons systems, which pose serious legal and ethical doubts. We therefore need to cooperate and address the emerging challenges related to Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems.’^[5]Statement by San Marino, UN General Assembly First Committee, 19 October 2020, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com20/statements/19Oct_SanMarino.pdf

At the 2019 United Nations General Assembly First Committee, San Marino called for the creation of international standards on autonomous weapon systems, stating that ‘we need to reflect on the use of armed drones and fully autonomous weapons, fields in which international standards should be discussed and developed. There are deep ethical and legal doubts that need to be addressed. San Marino believes that meaningful human control is required over life and death decisions.’^[6]Statement by San Marino, UN General Assembly First Committee, 16 October 2019, https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1x/k1xzc2qx67; please note that this link leads to the full recording of the relevant … Continue reading