Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Sumith Dassanayake, calls for negotiating a Legally Binding Instrument on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems

Addressing the Preparatory Committee for the Seventh Review Conference of the Convention  on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva on 07 September 2026, Permanent  Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Sumith  Dassanayake, called for establishing an explicit negotiating mandate for a legally binding  instrument on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) at the forthcoming Review  Conference. Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake also emphasised that human judgment and  control remained essential throughout the entire life cycle of autonomous weapons systems  to ensure legal, ethical and operational integrity and compliance with International  Humanitarian Law (IHL). 

Highlighting that life-and-death decisions in armed conflicts must never be delegated to  machines without human intervention, Ambassador Sumith Dassanayake urged Member  States to adopt strict prohibitions on autonomous weapon systems operating outside human  control or targeting human beings directly. Taking note of the multi-year discussions within  the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), Sri  Lanka stressed that the upcoming Seventh Review Conference must move beyond generic  exploratory work programmes and establish clear, time-bound negotiating mandates for an  international legal framework. 

Congratulating Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the Conference on  Disarmament, Ambassador Julien Thöni, on assuming the Chairmanship of the Preparatory  Committee and the Seventh Review Conference scheduled for November 2026, Ambassador  Sumith Dassanayake underscored that the Seventh Review Conference of the Convention on  Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) offered a crucial opportunity to ensure that  international law effectively adapted to contemporary security challenges.