Excellencies,
Sri Lanka welcomes the convening of these informal exchanges in Geneva under General Assembly resolution 80/58, and appreciates the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea for this initiative. We also thank the Office for Disarmament Affairs for organizing this timely and important process in an inclusive manner. We also welcome the Secretary-General’s report A/80/78, which provides a useful baseline for our discussions by reflecting the diversity of views across States, International and regional organizations, civil society and other stakeholders.
Sri Lanka has been strongly advocating for a legally binding instrument to address the challenges and concerns raised by emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems, in particular through the ongoing and valuable work of the Group of Governmental Experts on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS), established under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Simultaneously as a main sponsor of the UNGA Resolution on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) and a supporter of the resolution 80/58 which is mandated to convene these informal consultations, Sri Lanka strongly believes that it is essential to ensure complementarity between different discussions on AI in military domain in UN Disarmament machinery. Therefore, it is important to address rapidly growing concerns of AI in Military Domain through well-coordinated centralized UN mechanism at in a non-discriminatory and inclusive approach covering all aspects, including humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives. These discussions should avoid duplications.
As outlined in the UNGA Resolution 80/58, Sri Lanka also support that that ‘international law, including the Charter of the United Nations, international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law, applies to matters governed by it that occur throughout the life cycle of artificial intelligence capabilities as well as the systems that they enable in the military domain’.
While understanding the complex legal challenges posed by AI applications in military domain, Sri Lanka is of the view that the existing international law, particularly the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) should be strictly adhered and any new laws, legal and normative frameworks should be negotiated particularly based on the existing IHL.
Further Sri Lanka supports resolution’s focus ‘on the whole life cycle of artificial intelligence capabilities applied in the military domain, including the stages of pre‑design, design, development, evaluation, testing, deployment, use, sale, procurement, operation and decommissioning’.
While AI is increasingly being integrated into military applications, our discussions regarding its impact are not keeping pace with these advancements. While the AI is mainly integrated into military domain through the autonomous weapons systems, the new and emerging areas including various AI capabilities such as AI Decision Support Systems (AI-DSS), AI Cyber capabilities, integrating AI into nuclear weapons etc need to be broadly discussed.
The application of AI in the military domain raises serious concerns regarding human responsibility, accountability, and the increased risk of miscalculation and escalation of violations. Sri Lanka strongly advocates for human centrality throughout the weapons cycle. We strongly oppose the dehumanization of decision-making and the transfer of life-and-death decisions to machines and algorithms.
Sri Lanka also attaches importance to an inclusive multilateral process that avoids fragmentation, draws on the expertise of international organizations, academia, civil society, and industry, and ensures that all States, including developing countries, can participate meaningfully. Capacity-building and knowledge-sharing in addressing the issues in AI in military domain are especially important if we are to bridge the AI divide and ensure that governance and solutions are both effective and equitable.
During the informal exchanges, Sri Lanka is ready to engage constructively in identifying shared understandings and common landing zones and practical future steps in effectively addressing the issues of AI in military domain.
Thank you