Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons : Statement by Commodore Nishant Kumar, Director (Military Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India during the first session of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) held in Geneva on April 9, 2018

Home > Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons > Statement by Commodore Nishant Kumar, Director (Military Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India during the first session of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) held in Geneva on April 9, 2018

Statement by Commodore Nishant Kumar, Director (Military Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India during the first session of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) held in Geneva on April 9, 2018

Mr. Chairman,

It is indeed an honour for India to see you chairing the 2018 session of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). We are also particularly pleased that a representative from the NAM is chairing this session.

2. We welcome the adoption of the 2017 GGE Report by consensus as well as its endorsement by the High Contracting Parties to the CCW in November last year. We sincerely hope that we can maintain the momentum and continue to discuss this complex and challenging issue in full detail this year.

3. We are heartened by the participation at the GGE, of experts from capitals as well as representatives from civil society, industry associations, academia and non-governmental organisations. The broad and diverse participation, the number of Working Papers submitted by several countries, the activity on social media on this topic - all testify to the keen interest that this subject has evoked across the board.

Mr. Chairman,

4. The growing and ever-expanding civilian applications of emerging technologies related to lethal autonomous weapons systems add to the complexity of our work. Several countries today are employing AI to tackle economic and social challenges. India, for one, set up a Task Force on ‘AI for India’s Economic Transformation’, bringing together government and industry representatives as well as researchers and academicians. The Task Force has recently submitted its recommendations in ten important domains of relevance to India, wherein AI based technologies can make a valuable contribution, in particular, achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

5. Driven by the rapid progress in AI research and innovation, we will see intelligent machines influence large parts of our lives in the future. At the same time, these technologies raise legal, technical and ethical concerns in both civilian and military domains. The Task Force states and I quote “Complete autonomy cannot be given to weaponized platforms due to their potential unpredictability, inability to detect friend or foe in a chaotic and shifting theatre of war, which may result in fratricide and the challenges such platforms pose to military command and control. There might also be issues related to law of armed conflict such as the ability to retract safely during surrender of the enemy and correctly analyzing situations involving civilians or objects protected by IHL using in-build intelligence”. Unquote

Mr. Chairman,

6. My delegation remains convinced that the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) is the relevant forum to address the issue of the possible expansion of the autonomous dimension of lethal weapons systems, not least because of the fine balance the Convention seeks to strike between humanitarian concerns and military necessity but also because it provides a dynamic and adaptive platform bringing together multiple stake-holders. Further, we believe that addressing this issue within the framework of the CCW will strengthen the Convention and underline that it is capable of responding meaningfully to evolving new technologies applicable to armed conflict in the 21stcentury.

Mr Chairman,

7. In our view, the GGE of last year has charted the correct course by flagging the relevant issues of chracterisation of the systems, man-machine interface, military applications of related technologies and possible options for addressing the humanitarian and international security challenges.The envisagedbroad multidimensional sweep shall also ensure that we do not miss out any pathway to potential lethal autonomous weapon systems nor base ourselves on exaggerated notions of technological capabilities. We see merit in the continued consideration of the issue on the basis of an agreed mandate in the context of the CCW.

I thank you, Mr Chairman.