Sri Lanka has called for a clear negotiating mandate to establish a legally binding international instrument on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) at the forthcoming Seventh Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Addressing the Preparatory Committee for the Review Conference in Geneva on 7 September, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake, stressed that human judgment and control must remain essential throughout the entire life cycle of autonomous weapons systems.

He said this was necessary to ensure legal, ethical and operational integrity, as well as compliance with international humanitarian law.

Dassanayake stressed that life-and-death decisions in armed conflicts must never be delegated to machines without human intervention. He urged Member States to adopt strict prohibitions on autonomous weapons systems operating outside human control or directly targeting human beings.

Referring to the multi-year discussions of the Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS, he said the Seventh Review Conference should move beyond generic and exploratory work programmes and establish clear, time-bound negotiating mandates for an international legal framework.

Dassanayake said the Conference presented a crucial opportunity to ensure that international law effectively adapts to contemporary security challenges.