The ICRC welcomes the wide recognition by States that legal reviews at the domestic level of autonomous weapon systems, as with any new weapon, are required under Article 36 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions or under customary international humanitarian law. We wish to recall that this recognition is not new to States party to the CCW. Indeed, past Review Conferences have recalled the importance of legal reviews of new weapons in connection with the CCW’s work.
We encourage States to share their experience and outcomes of legal reviews of existing weapons with autonomy in their critical functions. In this respect, we also welcome proposals on sharing good practices for legal review mechanisms in order to improve implementation of the said legal obligations.
However, as we have stated previously, these efforts to encourage implementation of national legal reviews are not a substitute for States party to the CCW to consider possible policy and other options at the international level to address the legal and ethical limits to autonomy in weapon systems. Rather these two approaches are very much complimentary.
Closing statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (17 April 2015)
