Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is not a state party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), but has participated in CCW meetings on autonomous weapons systems. Zimbabwe supports the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. Zimbabwe is a member of the African Group within the United Nations, and is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, both of which support the negotiation of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.

In December 2025, Zimbabwe 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, Zimbabwe 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, Zimbabwe said that ‘the prospects of machines having the power to make life or death decisions over humans is unacceptable’, called for ‘continued emphasis on the need for human control and for all aspects of warfare to remain aligned with, and accountable to, International Humanitarian Law, as well as International Human Rights Law’, and called for ‘early negotiations of an international legally binding treaty on autonomous weapons systems.'^[1]Statement by Zimbabwe, 79th UNGA First Committee, 14 October 2024, https://reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Disarmament-fora/1com/1com24/statements/14Oct_Zimbabwe.pdf

In 2024, Zimbabwe endorsed the Chair’s Summary of the 2024 Vienna conference ‘Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation’ . The Chair’s Summary affirms the ‘strong commitment’ of the endorsing states to ‘work with urgency and with all interested stakeholders for an international legal instrument to regulate autonomous weapons systems.’

In December 2023, Zimbabwe 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.

During the third session of the 2021 CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS), the African Group said that autonomous weapon systems raise a number of ‘ethical, legal, moral and technical questions’, and that it looks forward to ‘concrete policy recommendations including elements of a legally binding instrument, stipulating prohibitions and regulations’ on autonomous weapon systems.^[2]Statement by the African Group, CCW Group of Governmental Experts meeting on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, 3rd December 2021, … Continue reading

In its statement at the 2015 meeting of CCW High Contracting Parties, Zimbabwe stated that ‘it is necessary to protect future generations from the wanton and mindless ravages that lethal autonomous weapons can bring upon humanity’, and said that it ‘joins like-minded delegations in calling for a pre-emptive ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems.’ Zimbabwe then added that it does not support a ‘scenario where decisions over human life and death are ceded or delegated to machines… without human judgment nor empathy, and have no sense of proportionality or force distinction between military and civilian targets’.^[3]Statement by Zimbabwe, CCW Meeting of High Contracting Parties, 12 November 2015,  … Continue reading