Written question asked by Shockat Adam (Independent (affiliation)) on Monday, 6 July 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 8 July 2026. It was answered by Luke Pollard (Labour) on Monday, 13 July 2026 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Autonomous Weapons: International Cooperation

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on international efforts to regulate lethal autonomous weapons systems.

Answer: The UK will continue to be an active participant in discussions on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems(LAWS) within the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Group of Government Experts (GGE), working closely with other states and civil society to set out potential norms of use and positive obligations to ensure autonomy in weapons systems can be used responsibly and legitimately in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. The UN CCW is the appropriate forum to consider the issue of emerging technologies in the area of LAWS. It is inclusive, expert and consensus based which means that as a forum its conclusions will have the most meaningful impact.

Secondary information