2023 First Session of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) March 6-10 2023

The first session was held based on the decision of the 2023 meeting of the High Contracting Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) that the Intergovernmental Group of Experts of High Contracting Parties on Emerging Technologies in the Field of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), will be held for 10 days, from 6 to March 10, 2023, and from May 15 to 19, 2023, the first session was held in Room XIX of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, chaired by Brazilian Ambassador Flavio D'Amico Soares

 In terms of the first intervention, the head of the Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights, the human rights expert (Ayman Okail), made an oral intervention on the second topic of item 5 of the agenda, concerned with the application of international humanitarian law and potential prohibitions and regulations, in the evening session of the second day, corresponding to Tuesday, March 7 2023.

He stressed that the responsibility rests with everyone to ensure the development and deployment of a legal system of lethal autonomous weapons in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law, because it is clear that these weapons systems have the ability to significantly affect the course of armed conflicts, and that the goal of seeking to apply international humanitarian law is Protecting civilians who do not participate in hostilities and limiting the means and methods of war, as an example of the imbalance that impedes compliance with international humanitarian law. Through our follow-up and participation in the meetings that were organized during the past year, 30 countries expressed their support for a preemptive ban on lethal weapons systems. Operation, while 7 countries explicitly rejected the idea of prohibition, and the remaining countries took a neutral or ambiguous position on this issue, and I recommended the development of clear regulations and control mechanisms regarding the development and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems, including human control mechanisms and mandatory accountability, and the deployment of these mechanisms in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law.

The second intervention by Maat was in the evening session of the third day, corresponding to Wednesday, March 8, and the session was entitled Interaction between man and machine, purposeful human control, human judgment and ethical considerations, human rights expert Ayman Okail, head of Maat confirmed in an oral intervention on the third topic of item 5 of the table The works assert that lethal, autonomous weapon systems pose great moral risks, and these systems can be used to target individuals or groups more quickly, and that the development and development of these weapons by some countries is a violation of human rights, international humanitarian law, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The human rights expert recommended the team to An examination of the critical role of human governance and meaningful human control in the development and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems.

On the sidelines of Ma’at’s follow-up to the work of the first session of the Group of Governmental Experts 2023, a meeting took place between the head of the Maat Foundation, the human rights expert (Ayman Aqeel), and the head of the Group of Governmental Experts, Brazilian Ambassador Flavio D’Amico Soares, in which Maat expressed its appreciation for the efforts made by assuming the presidency of the team