THE CRUNCH
Efforts to close a hole in how the world governs autonomous weapons risk falling apart, with nations spearheaded by Russia and the US seeking to use a UN gathering in Geneva this month to stop proposals for a legally binding rulebook. The seventh review conference on weapons covered by the convention on certain conventional weapons, bringing together 128 countries from 16 to 20 November, is viewed as the decisive occasion for backing a mandate to negotiate a binding instrument on a defined timetable.
Talks at the UN on the issue have run for nearly three years, and states have already agreed by consensus on elements of a draft treaty text. But Russia, the US and Israel, among others, are pushing against setting a timetable for legally binding negotiations, favouring instead continued voluntary measures. Anna Hehir of the Future of Life Institute warned that some states may "hide behind language that has the veneer of progress" while advocating endless discussions that leave autonomous weapons unregulated.
Support for action is broad elsewhere. On 22 October, a 50-state group spanning Ireland, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, France and Germany urged the conference to adopt a strict negotiating mandate, and the International Committee of the Red Cross separately reported that more than 70 states back starting negotiations. The Irish-led proposal would establish a time-limited expert group negotiating rules over three sessions in Geneva in 2027, totalling 25 days, with a draft protocol reported to that year's annual meeting. The UK did not back the Irish statement, having previously maintained that international humanitarian law as it stands is enough to regulate such weapons.
The urgency is underlined by battlefield use: in July, Ukraine said for the first time that Russia had deployed an AI-guided drone, which hit a propane tank at a Zaporizhzhia fuel station. Pope Leo XIV also intervened, urging states meeting in Geneva to take concrete steps towards banning lethal autonomous weapons, saying decisions affecting human life must always remain under effective human oversight.