Sweden

Sweden has participated in all Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings on autonomous weapons systems.

Sweden has not yet declared its position on the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. At the 2021 meeting of the UN General Assembly First Committee, Sweden said that ‘The rapid technological development poses new challenges for disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. Sweden is of the strong conviction that international law applies fully to all weapon systems and that meaningful human control over the use of force always must be upheld, the area of LAWS is no exception.’^[1]Statement by Sweden, UN General Assembly First Committee, 04 October 2021, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com21/statements/4Oct_Sweden.pdf At the Sixth Review Conference of the CCW in December 2021, Sweden said that ‘accountability cannot be transferred to machines and humans must always be responsible for decisions to apply force.’^[2]Statement by Sweden, Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 13 December 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/RCHCP6-13-12-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note … Continue reading Sweden further stated that ‘retaining meaningful human control is of utmost importance and should be ensured throughout the life cycle of a weapons system.’^[3]Statement by Sweden, Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, 13 December 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/RCHCP6-13-12-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note … Continue reading