Statement

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoliaric, today reiterated their call for governments to urgently adopt new international rules on autonomous weapons systems.

Three years ago, we called on governments to impose specific bans and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems . Today, we renew that call with even greater urgency. The fundamental concerns remain, but the risks have intensified. We are now perilously close to crossing a moral red line: the automated targeting of humans by machines.

The development of weapons technology has progressed at an unprecedented pace, placing increasing pressure on legal frameworks. Since our previous call, the gap between technological capabilities and regulatory constraints has widened as the deployment of advanced technologies on the battlefield has increased the risk of harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, and exacerbated the suffering of civilians in armed conflict.

The development and use of autonomous weapons systems represents a further escalation that reduces human control over the use of force. Autonomous weapons systems are not part of the distant future; the race to increase the autonomy of weapons systems is already well underway. At the same time, scientists and engineers who are developing these systems themselves have warned that governments cannot remain passive when the architects of the technology call for restrictions.

This year should be a turning point.

Governments, through the UN General Assembly and the Group of Governmental Experts under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, have done important groundwork. Considerable progress has been made in developing a common understanding of the humane judgment and control required, as well as the measures necessary to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law, address ethical concerns and reduce human suffering.

Governments must show political courage and move beyond incremental discussions to decisive action. Negotiations must begin now to urgently adopt a legally binding instrument regulating autonomous weapons systems with clear prohibitions and limitations. Failure to act quickly and decisively will cost lives. This will leave future generations with a world in which the absence of clear and specific prohibitions and limitations on these weapons paves the way for practices that undermine the protections that international humanitarian law is designed to guarantee. A world in which accountability becomes increasingly elusive as it becomes increasingly difficult to determine responsibility for wrongdoing and violations of applicable rules.

States have a responsibility to those who are already suffering the consequences of today’s conflicts, as well as to those who will inherit the world that is now being resolved. Future generations will ask whether leaders acted when there was still time to set limits before these weapons spread unchecked. The Seventh Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in November provides the clearest path forward for States to decide to enter into negotiations on a legally binding instrument. The painstaking and meticulous work that has been done over the past three years provides an ideal basis for these negotiations and should not be lost.

We urge governments to seize this opportunity.

Continuing to design weapons systems that make war easier will only undermine our collective efforts to achieve a more peaceful world.

The path is clear. The need is urgent. Innovation must serve humanity, not endanger it.

/۲۰۲۶/۰۸/۹۴۰۵/https://ir.icrc.org/