Regional Briefing Paper: Pacific Island States and the Governance of Autonomous Weapons Systems

Executive Summary

This primer seeks to consolidate the contributions, concerns, and perspectives of Pacific island states when it comes to autonomous weapons systems. The goal of this briefing is to assist and inform states about the progress they have made, what they have already agreed on, and how they can develop their positions further. Autonomous weapons systems (AWS) can be defined as a range of weapons systems that detect and apply force to a target based on sensor inputs, rather than an immediate human command.

The primer shows that Pacific island states have voiced concerns that, in addition to ethical and legal issues, autonomous weapons systems pose specific environmental and security risks for the states and people of the Pacific. The potential environmental impacts of the development and use of autonomous weapons systems, including when Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used in such systems, have been highlighted by states of the region. The connection to the historical lessons learnt from nuclear risks, given the history of nuclear testing in the region, has also been a key concern for Pacific island states.

Despite a limited presence at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva and within the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), which currently hosts the majority of diplomatic discussions on autonomous weapons systems, Pacific island states have actively engaged on this issue in international forums. They have made a unique contribution to the discourse, bringing perspectives and raising concerns often not highlighted by other states. Pacific island states have overwhelmingly voted in favour of resolutions addressing the challenges posed by autonomous weapons systems. They have proposed a range of actions to respond to these challenges, including the negotiation of new international law, strengthening compliance with existing laws, environmental protection measures, and regional and global cooperation.

This primer commends the efforts of Pacific island states so far to contribute to the governance of autonomous weapons systems, and urges them to:

• Call for an international legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems, and build commitment to move to negotiations on such an instrument in 2026, recognising that sufficient common ground has now been developed to do this,
• Ensure their individual and collective views are included in deliberations, towards the development of a strong legal instrument, and
• Develop their positions and contributions further on issues including: the centrality of meaningful human control; the need to prohibit anti-personnel autonomous weapons systems; algorithmic bias; and addressing regional concerns such as environmental threats and the use and testing of weapons in the region by other states and non-state actors.

This regional briefing is available in English.