Opposition by US and Russia raises doubts over autonomous weapons talks outcome, diplomats say

Opposition from the United States and Russia has raised doubts that countries meeting in Geneva will on Friday agree on a document that could pave the way to international rules on the use of autonomous weapons, three diplomats said.

The 128 states that are party to the Convention on ​Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), an international framework hosted under the United Nations in Geneva that regulates or bans specific types of weapons considered excessively injurious or indiscriminate, have been meeting this week in the Swiss city.

They are set to decide whether consensus can be reached on a non-binding text that may usher in negotiations on prohibitions and regulations for Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS).

Concerns have been mounting about the role of semi-autonomous weapons that can identify and engage targets with varying degrees of autonomy in conflict zones such as Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East.

Human Rights Watch and the Stop Killer Robots campaign group have warned that weapons systems, some of which are assisted by artificial intelligence, may behave unpredictably, raising the risk of fatal errors.

States agree that international humanitarian law applies to LAWS, but specifically binding international standards for such systems remain virtually non-existent.

A majority of countries at the meeting have expressed support for a draft text, but the U.S. and Russia have proposed late changes and deletions to it, two diplomatic sources said.

The Russian mission in Geneva did not comment. The U.S. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The window is getting smaller to getting an agreement,” one of the diplomatic sources told Reuters.

Diplomats may run out of time and key provisions discussed over several years could be dropped, running the risk of no deal emerging, a second diplomatic source said.

Differences over language

The U.S. position has hardened over the past six months, a senior diplomat said, with Washington favouring something more akin to guidelines than a legally binding international treaty as it says international humanitarian law already provides a framework to govern the conduct of warfare.

This position is supported by states including Russia, India and Turkey.

At least six countries received formal diplomatic approaches from Washington to back its position concerning the draft text, two diplomats said. This showed U.S. engagement to try to reach consensus on the issue, one of them said.

But differences remain over language, with the use of words such as “lethality” and a section related to exercising human judgment and control being debated, one of the sources said.

Backers of a legally binding treaty, including Brazil, Ireland and several African states, say safeguards are needed to ensure meaningful human control over the weapons systems in question. Opponents favour greater flexibility.

In August, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric warned the world was nearing a moral red line where autonomous weapons could kill without human involvement.

三位外交官表示，美国和俄罗斯的反对使人们怀疑，周五在日内瓦开会的各国能否就一份可能为制定关于使用自主武器的国际规则铺平道路的文件达成一致。

《特定常规武器公约》（CCW）是联合国在日内瓦主持的一项国际框架，旨在规范或禁止被认为具有过度伤害性或不加区分的特定类型武器。本周，该公约的128个缔约国在瑞士日内瓦举行了会议。

他们即将决定是否能够就一份不具约束力的文本达成共识，该文本可能会开启关于致命自主武器系统 (LAWS) 的禁令和监管的谈判。

人们越来越担心半自主武器在乌克兰、苏丹和中东等冲突地区的作用，这些武器能够以不同程度的自主性识别和打击目标。

人权观察组织和“停止杀手机器人”运动组织警告说，一些由人工智能辅助的武器系统可能会出现不可预测的行为，从而增加发生致命错误的风险。

各国一致认为国际人道主义法适用于自主武器系统，但针对此类系统的具体具有约束力的国际标准实际上仍然存在。

两名外交消息人士称，会议上的大多数国家都对草案文本表示支持，但美国和俄罗斯提出了一些后期修改和删除的提议。

俄罗斯驻日内瓦代表团未予置评。美国代表团也未立即回应置评请求。

一位外交消息人士告诉路透社：“达成协议的窗口期越来越短了。”

另一位外交消息人士称，外交官们可能时间不够，经过数年讨论的关键条款可能会被放弃，从而导致最终无法达成协议。

语言差异

一位高级外交官表示，过去六个月来，美国的立场变得更加强硬，华盛顿倾向于制定更类似于指导方针而非具有法律约束力的国际条约，因为它认为国际人道主义法已经为战争行为提供了框架。

包括俄罗斯、印度和土耳其在内的许多国家都支持这一立场。

两位外交官透露，至少有六个国家收到了来自华盛顿的正式外交接触，希望它们支持美国在草案文本上的立场。其中一位外交官表示，这表明美国正努力就此问题达成共识。

但其中一位消息人士称，双方在措辞上仍存在分歧，例如“致命性”等词语的使用，以及与行使人类判断和控制相关的部分内容，目前仍在讨论中。

包括巴西、爱尔兰和几个非洲国家在内的支持制定具有法律约束力条约的人士认为，需要采取保障措施，以确保对相关武器系统进行有效的人为控制。反对者则倾向于更大的灵活性。

8 月，联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯和红十字会主席米尔亚娜·斯波利亚里奇警告说，世界正接近一条道德红线，自主武器可以在没有人类参与的情况下杀人。