The chapeau of this box concludes with the word “should”, indicating that the paragraphs that follow reflect desirable measures or good practices. But this creates some issues in relation to paragraphs 1 and 9.
As several delegations have underlined, the obligation to undertake legal reviews of new weapons, reflected in the first sentence of paragraph 1, constitutes a legal obligation at least for those states that are party to Additional Protocol I.
Stronger language from the group’s earlier consensus documents would be preferable to reflect this. For example, the language using the word “must” from paragraph 23 of the 2023 Report seems more appropriate. The second sentence of this paragraph can remain the same. To accommodate the stronger language, paragraph 1 could be brought to the very beginning of the box—before the current chapeau. We also find the proposal to move the first sentence of paragraph 1 to Box III interesting. But if that is done, the second sentence would then need to be rephrased here to bring it in line with the chapeau.
APILS, Statement on Box IV (GGE LAWS, 3 September 2025)
