CCW Report, Vol. 13, No. 5
Report of the CCW Meeting of High Contracting Parties
14 November 2025
Laura Varella | Reaching Critical Will
On 12 November 2025, delegations met in Geneva for the Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The meeting, which had previously been scheduled to take place over the course of three days, was reduced to a single day and focused on the adoption of necessary administrative and procedure decisions. Mr. Arthur Sewankambo Kafeero of Uganda, President of the meeting, informed that he was nominated based on the understanding that the meeting would take place under this shortened format, which was without prejudice to future meetings of High Contracting Parties.
The meeting lasted a total of 31 minutes. Delegations skipped the general debate and jumped to the consideration and adoption of the draft final report. Among its decisions, the meeting decided to hold the next sessions of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) from 2–6 March 2026 and from 31 August–4 September 2026. The meeting also decided that the Seventh Review Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Convention will be held from 16-20 November 2026.
On paragraph 19 of the final report, the meeting noted that the Eastern European Group (EEG) renounced its right to nominate a representative to preside over next year’s Review Conference. It will be up for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to nominate a president, a task that must be completed urgently, as pointed out by Mr. Sewankambo Kafeero.
It seems that it has been difficult to find a delegation willing to chair the Review Conference. That is not surprising given the challenges of past CCW meetings, in which some states have prevented substantial debates under procedural arguments, including by refusing to confirm the rules of procedure, by blocking the participation of observers, and by insisting on having the meeting on informal mode. It is clear that the CCW has not been immune to the overall deterioration of multilateralism. However, the Convention finds itself in a key moment, particularly when it comes to autonomous weapon systems, as the GGE is set to conclude its three-year mandate in 2026.
During the most recent GGE session, held last September, a joint statement delivered by Brazil on behalf of 42 states affirmed that they are ready to move ahead towards negotiations of an instrument on lethal autonomous weapon systems on the basis of the rolling text. The text of the joint statement was submitted as a working paper to the meeting of High Contracting Parties and was endorsed by the following states: Angola, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Mexico, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Uruguay.
Hopefully delegations will heed the call from these states and conclude the work of the GGE with a strong recommendation towards this goal. While some may point to the current geopolitical environment as a challenge, it is precisely because of the current landscape of increasing militarisation and the renewed global arms race that states need to agree on legally binding rules on autonomous weapons. It is in the best interest of all countries to reach this goal as soon as possible. After a decade of discussions, let’s make sure that 2026 will be the year that diplomacy will prevail and that humanity will be protected from further automated violence.
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