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The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) agrees to work all the way to 2026 - but only to consider the possible elements of some sort of instrument, and not to actually negotiate anything. From 16th-18th November the 2023 Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW were supposed to meet to decide on a way forward for their work on autonomous weapons amongst other issues.  The meeting was bitter and shambolic, with more than a whole day lost completely because of Russia blocking confirmation of the Rules of Procedure. This forced the meeting to do its work informally and resulted in observers, international organisations and civil society being blocked from participating in the few sections of the meeting where any substantive work was done.

The first meeting of 2023 of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) at the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) on autonomous weapons systems (AWS) took place from 6-10th March. Following the Belén Communique…

With only 3 days to consider and adopt a range of measures relating to the operation of the CCW, a brief period of time was allocated to consideration of the report of the Group of Governmental Experts relating…

The world waits as the CCW proves itself a failed forum. States need to find a way forward or remain complicit in the Russian led deadlock. The final meeting of 2022 of the Group of Governmental…

Although agreement on the substance of a framework continues to develop, states expressed skepticism over proposals for non-binding practices and principles and continue to call for legally binding rules on the development and use of Autonomous Weapon Systems…

The meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) at the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) reconvened at the United Nations from 7-11th March. Now in their 9th year of discussions, states supposedly gathered to formally consider “detailed proposals for…

Yesterday evening, 8 December 2021, the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) at the UN concluded its work for 2021 – finalising its report to be submitted to the 6th Review Conference of the…

26 September 2019 New York, USA. PRESS RELEASE: Only a new ban treaty will prevent a future of killer robots. Foreign ministers must commit to launching negotiations now. Dozens of foreign ministers endorsed a killer robots declaration today…