The United States and Russia are resisting parts of a proposed text on autonomous weapons, raising doubts about a Friday decision by countries meeting in Geneva on whether to open a path toward international rules. The 128 states party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons are considering a non-binding document that could lead to negotiations on prohibitions and regulations for lethal autonomous weapons systems, Defense News reported, citing three diplomats.
The CCW is a United Nations-hosted framework that regulates or bans specific types of weapons considered excessively injurious or indiscriminate. The states party to the convention have been meeting in Geneva this week and are scheduled to decide whether consensus can be reached on the proposed text.
The immediate issue is whether the meeting can reach consensus on the draft. A majority of participating countries has expressed support for it, but Washington and Moscow have proposed late changes and deletions, according to two diplomatic sources cited in the report. The objections have raised uncertainty over whether the document can be agreed in its current form and whether it can serve as a basis for negotiations on future restrictions.
One diplomatic source described the negotiating timetable as tightening. “The window is getting smaller to getting an agreement,” the source said. A second source warned that delegates could run out of time and that key provisions discussed over several years could be dropped, creating a risk that no agreement will emerge.
The disagreement centers partly on the legal status and wording of any future framework. The U.S. position has hardened over the past six months, a senior diplomat said. Washington favors an approach closer to guidelines than a legally binding treaty, arguing that international humanitarian law already provides a framework for governing the conduct of warfare. Russia, India and Turkey support that position, the report said.
At least six countries received formal diplomatic approaches from Washington concerning its position on the draft, according to two diplomats. The negotiations continued over the text and its scope. The U.S. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the Russian mission in Geneva did not comment.
The most contested wording includes references to “lethality” and a section addressing human judgment and control, one diplomatic source said. Countries backing a legally binding treaty, including Brazil, Ireland and several African states, argue that safeguards are needed to preserve meaningful human control over weapons systems. Opponents favor greater flexibility rather than binding international requirements.
The negotiations address lethal autonomous weapons systems that can identify and engage targets with varying degrees of autonomy. Concerns about those capabilities have grown as semi-autonomous weapons feature in discussions about conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East. Human Rights Watch and the Stop Killer Robots campaign have warned that systems assisted by artificial intelligence could behave unpredictably and increase the risk of fatal errors, the report said.
States agree that international humanitarian law applies to lethal autonomous weapons systems, but specifically binding international standards remain virtually nonexistent. The Geneva meeting therefore concerns whether countries can agree on a text that may usher in negotiations over prohibitions and regulations, even as they remain divided over how binding any eventual rules should be.
In August, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric warned that the world was nearing a moral red line where autonomous weapons could kill without human involvement. The meeting is scheduled to decide Friday whether consensus can be reached on the proposed text.