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.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva

14 September 2026