San Marino

San Marino is not a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and has not participated in any CCW meetings on autonomous weapons systems. However, San Marino has spoken on autonomous weapons systems at the United Nations General Assembly.

San Marino has not yet declared its support for the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapon systems. However, at the 2019 United Nations General Assembly First Committee, it 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.’^[1]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

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.’^[2]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.’^[3]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