[W]e also support to switch out “employment” to “development and use”. The whole life-cycle issue has been discussed also since a long time and this is something we definitely support. It is important as what we are doing here is upholding IHL, and IHL does not only apply to the use of force but it is a broader endeavour. And with new technologies we need to be sure that the development stage, and the actors that are active in this stage, are involved in the whole exercise that we are doing. And this also makes the life easier for states because in the end they will be the ones to have to do the Article 36 review.
Statement by Austria (3 March 2025, afternoon)
