Singapore

Singapore is not currently a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), but will accede to the CCW in 2024. 

At the 78th UN General Assembly First Committee in 2023, Singapore voted in favour of resolution L.56 on autonomous weapons systems, along with 163 other states. Resolution L.56 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.

Singapore is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons.^[1]See: Statement by Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, UNGA First Committee, 20 October 2023. … Continue reading

Speaking at the UNGA in October 2023, Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, stated that ‘autonomous weapon systems without human fingers on the trigger are already with us’, and noted that ‘the speed at which AI-enabled weapons systems can be almost instantaneously deployed and triggered will dramatically reduce decision times for our leaders. There will be many occasions when humans may not even be in the firing loop, but we will be on the firing line. This would inevitably heighten the risk of unintended conflicts, or the escalation of conflicts.’^[2]Statement by Singapore, UNGA General Debate, 22 September 2023. https://gadebate.un.org/en/78/singapore