SierraLeone Hosts First Regional Conference on Autonomous Weapons
ECOWAS Foreign Ministers, Security Experts, and Artificial Intelligence Specialists on Wednesday commenced a two-day workshop at the Bintumani Conference Center in Freetown to discuss sub-regional regulatory measures that would inform a global treaty in the near future on the use and control of Autonomous Weapons.
Welcoming other ECOWAS Foreign Ministers, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Musa Timothy Kabba, underscored the urgent need for a regional ECOWAS conference to address the rapidly advancing and menacing military technology known as autonomous weapons systems.
“We are gathered here today against the background of multiple global crises that have put a strain not only on the international order, but also on our political, legal, and ethical systems – the current conflict situations …, the climate change crisis with its attendant costs, and the geopolitical instabilities rocking the foundation of our global system”, he said.
Kabbah described the Autonomous Weapons System as a lethal new threat to global security and human dignity in conflict situations.
He said the implications of the use of such systems are not only dangerous, but indicative of a deterioration of valued principles of accountability and responsibility which are protected by International Law.
Giving the significance of the ECOWAS sub-regional conference on autonomous weapons systems, Kabbah said that it seeks to critically assess and analyze these new phenomena in military hardware and their application in conflict situations, with the view to decide on a regional position on their existence or application in contribution to the global efforts to establish a regulatory framework through a legally binding international instrument.
Though ECOWAS recognizes developments in other regions regarding decisions and declarations on autonomous weapons and the growing field of Artificial Intelligence, he said, they also had a responsibility to be a part of discussions concerning security, peace, and human dignity.
“My hope is that this Conference will serve to unite us for a formidable regional voice regarding autonomous weapons systems and their use in conflicts”, the minister said.
