Netherlands

The Netherlands is a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and has participated in all CCW meetings on autonomous weapons systems. The Netherlands supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

In December 2025, the Netherlands 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.’

At the 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, the Netherlands 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.’

Netherlands made a submission to the UN Secretary-General pursuant to Resolution 78/241 on autonomous weapons systems in May 2024.

In December 2023, the Netherlands 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 2023 CCW GGE on LAWS, the Netherlands said that ‘we need to show the world that a large majority of states want to establish international rules and principles’ for autonomous weapons, and that ‘regulation is required. The main objective of this regulation should be to ensure that sufficient human judgment and control is maintained when such systems are developed and used.'^[1]Statement by the Netherlands, CCW GGE on LAWS, 6 March 2023, … Continue reading

During the First Committee in 2023, the Netherlands stated that ‘ The rapid development of new technologies such as AI continues unabated and impacts our work in profound ways. These technologies change not only our day to day lives but redefine conflict as we know it. The Netherlands believes that it is our collective responsibility to bring these new technologies into frameworks of both existing and new disarmament treaties and agreements…of equal importance is the process of establishing rules and principles for the development and use of Autonomous Weapons Systems within the GGE LAWS.'^[2]Statement by the Netherlands, UNGA First Committee, 23 October 2023,https://docs-library.unoda.org/General_Assembly_First_Committee_-Seventy-Eighth_session_(2023)/Netherlands_(Kingdom_of_the).pdf

The Netherlands continued to state that ‘to further advance the work on a legally binding instrument to regulate these weapons, the Netherlands is committed to the two-tier approach: autonomous weapons systems that cannot be used in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law (IHL), must be explicitly prohibited, while those that can be used in accordance with IHL have to be regulated. The objective of this approach is to ensure that sufficient human judgement and control is maintained when such systems are developed and used. Within this context, the Netherlands also co-sponsors the resolution tabled by Austria, which calls for the UN Secretary General to seek the views of states on Autonomous Weapons Systems.’^[3]Statement by the Netherlands, UNGA First Committee, 23 October 2023,https://docs-library.unoda.org/General_Assembly_First_Committee_-Seventy-Eighth_session_(2023)/Netherlands_(Kingdom_of_the).pdf

The Netherlands first indicated its support for a legally binding instrument in a letter from the Dutch government to parliament in June 2022. ^[4]Letter to parliament with Cabinet response to AIVCAVV advice on autonomous weapons systems, 17 June 2022, … Continue reading.

The Netherlands has stated that autonomous weapons systems should be under meaningful human control to ensure that they can be used in compliance with International Humanitarian Law.’^[5]Statement by the Netherlands, CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, 28 September 2021, http://149.202.215.129:8080/s2t/UNOG/LAWS-28-09-2021-PM_mp3_en.html; please note that this link leads to … Continue reading