Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago is a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Trinidad and Tobago supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. Trinidad and Tobago is a member of CARICOM which supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

In December 2025, Trinidad and Tobago 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, Trinidad and Tobago stated ‘Allowing algorithms to decide matters of life and death is a moral threshold we cannot permit ourselves to cross. Trinidad and Tobago, therefore, supports continued international discussions towards a legally binding instrument to regulate or prohibit these weapons, ensuring that human dignity is preserved, accountability is maintained, and global stability is safeguarded’.^[1]Statement by Trinidad and Tobago, UN General Assembly First Committee, 15 October 2025, https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1a7f1gn3l

At the 79th UN General Assembly First Committee in October 2024, Trinidad and Tobago 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, Trinidad and Tobago reiterated that it supports ‘the call for the negotiation of an international legally binding instrument to respond to the legal, ethical, humanitarian, and security risks posed by autonomous weapon systems.'^[2]Statement by Trinidad and Tobago, 79th UNGA First Committee, 15 October 2024

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

In December 2023, Trinidad and Tobago 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 First Committee in 2023, CARICOM, in a statement delivered by Jamaica, underlined that ‘the introduction of new technological applications, such as those related to autonomy in weapon systems, and lack of human control in the decision-making processes of these weapons, raises serious concerns from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives.’^[3]Statement by Jamaica on behalf of CARICOM, UNGA First Committee, 02 October 2023. https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1z/k1zwe7y41m

At the 2023 CARICOM conference on the human impacts of autonomous weapons, hosted by Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago signed the CARICOM Declaration on Autonomous Weapons Systems, stating its commitment to ‘support the indispensability of meaningful human control over the use of force and thereby encourage the pursuit of an international legally binding instrument which incorporates prohibitions and regulations on AWS’, and to ‘collaborate on endeavours aimed at negotiating an international legally binding instrument that prohibits unpredictable or uncontrollable AWS capable of using force without meaningful human control, and prohibit those designed or employed to apply force against persons, while implementing regulations for other forms of AWS’.^[4]CARICOM Declaration on Autonomous Weapons Systems, https://www.caricom-aws2023.com/_files/ugd/b69acc_c1ffb97ed9024930a3205ae4e34c1b45.pdf