Disarmament in Review
| 2013 | Following a report by UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns, the CCW Meeting of High Contracting Parties (HCP) decided that the Chairperson will convene in 2014 an Informal Meeting of Experts to discuss the questions related to emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS). |
| 2014 | The first Informal Meeting of Experts is held in accordance with the decision of the 2013 CCW Meeting of HCPs. Chair: Ambassador Simon-Michel of France |
| 2015 | The second Informal Meeting of Experts is held. Chair: Ambassador Michael Biontino of Germany |
| 2016 | The third Informal Meeting of Experts is held. Chair: Ambassador Michael Biontino of Germany |
| 2016 | At the CCW Fifth Review Conference, HCPs decide to establish an open-ended Group of Governmental Experts on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems. Mandate: to build on the work of the previous meetings of experts and to explore and agree on possible recommendations on options related to emerging technologies in the area of LAWS, in the context of the objectives and purposes of the Convention. |
| 2017 | The Group of Governmental Experts meets for five days under the mandate agreed upon at the Fifth Review Conference. Chair: Ambassador Amandeep Singh Gill of India |
| 2018 | The Group of Governmental Experts meets for 10 days and affirms 10 guiding principles. Chair: Ambassador Amandeep Singh Gill of India |
| 2019 | The Group of Governmental Experts meets for seven days and identifies one additional guiding principle. The Group recommends the CCW HCPs endorse the 11 guiding principles at the annual Meeting. Chair: Mr. Ljupco Jivan Gjorginski of North Macedonia |
| 2019 | The CCW Meeting of the High Contracting Parties adopts 11 guiding principles per the recommendation of the 2019 GGE. |
| 2021 | The Group of Governmental Experts meets for 20 days and prepares the work of the CCW Sixth Review Conference, held in December 2021. No substantive report is adopted. Chair: Ambassador Marc Pectseen de Buytswerve of Belgium |
| 2021 | At the Sixth Review Conference, CCW HCPs, inter alia, affirm that international humanitarian law continues to apply fully to all weapons systems, including the potential development and use of LAWS, and that a lethal autonomous weapon must not be used if it is of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering, or if it is inherently indiscriminate, or is otherwise incapable of being used in accordance with international humanitarian law. The Review Conference decides on the new mandate to: “consider proposals and elaborate, by consensus, possible measures (…)”. |
| 2022 | The Group of Governmental Experts meets for ten days and decides to continue its work by intensifying the consideration of proposals. Chair: Ambassador Flávio S. Damico of Brazil |
| 2023 | The Group of Governmental Experts meets for 10 days and, inter alia, converges on the notion that weapons systems based on emerging technologies in the area of LAWS must not be used if they are incapable of being used in compliance with IHL. Chair: Ambassador Flávio S. Damico of Brazil |
