CAMPAIGN AGAINST KILLER ROBOTS
Exchange with Cameroonian players
As we celebrate with Stop Killer Robots the historic adoption of the first UN Resolution on autonomous weapons this 1ᵉʳ November 2023; WILPF Cameroon organized a workshop on Thursday October 26 in Yaoundé to exchange with Cameroonian actors on the progress of the campaign on killer robots.
Today’s workshop, which aimed to put the issue of killer robots back on the discussion table in order to measure the level of achievement of the objectives of a campaign initiated since 2018.
More specifically, this involved :
* Putting killer robots back at the center of debate in Cameroon,
* To present the current state of the campaign in Cameroon,
* Get decision-makers on board with the global ambition to curb the development of autonomous weapons systems.
26 people attended, including 15 women and 11 men: heads of government departments ( MINAT, MINCOMMERCE, MINRESI, MINDDEVEL, MINJUSTICE). Actors from civil society, the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, experts in robotics and artificial intelligence, and member organizations of the Cameroon Arms Control Network (CANSA).
Discussions focused on three themes:
* The Campaign Against Killer Robots: the state of play and the issues at stake in a global context marked by crises,
* Global security and the urgent need for a national arms control body,
* Killer robots and the urgent need for regulation.
Following these presentations, participants split into three groups to answer questions on potential government actions in support of the campaign. And secondly, priority actions to be taken, with a view to Cameroon’s rapid accession to the ban on this technology.
At the end of this group work, some crucial recommendations were made:
* Consider killer robots as a public safety issue
* Support the resolution emerging from the 78ᵉ session of the United Nations General Assembly on world peace and security currently underway in New York. An important gathering attended by the President of WILPF, who invites the Secretary General of the United Nations to engage states and stakeholders on how to address the legal, ethical, humanitarian and security risks posed by SALAs.
Distributed to participants, these resolutions will form the basis of a major advocacy campaign with governments, with a view to prioritizing the issues to be addressed in the Peace and Security Agenda.
WILPF Africa Feplem Moral Reaching Critical Will International Atomic Energy Agency #Cansa Cameroon Action Network on Small Arms #MINREX_Ministère des Relations Extérieures du Cameroun
