International News

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS)

September 14 , 2026 15 hrs 0 min 16 0

128 countries reached a consensus in Geneva on a text defining Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) under the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).
LAWS are autonomous military systems that can detect, select and engage targets using pre-programmed parameters without meaningful human intervention for each attack.
The consensus text is non-binding and may support future international regulations or a treaty on autonomous weapons.
The United States, Russia, India and Israel oppose restrictive legally binding treaties and favour non-binding approaches or existing laws of armed conflict.
Brazil, Ireland and Norway are among countries supporting a legally binding instrument to restrict autonomous targeting.
CCW was adopted in Geneva in 1980 and entered into force in 1983; India is a State Party and participates in the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) discussions on LAWS.