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StatementDefenceGovernmentCosta Rica InternationalReported

33 Latin American and Caribbean states call for a treaty on autonomous weapons

See how this story connects

Source: Human Rights WatchAlso reported by Stop Killer Robots

At a regional conference hosted by Costa Rica in San José on 23-24 February 2023, 33 Latin American and Caribbean states adopted the Belén Communiqué. It calls for urgent negotiation of a legally binding instrument with prohibitions and regulations on autonomy in weapons systems and for meaningful human control over the use of force.

Why it matters

A regional bloc of 33 states put its weight behind a binding treaty on autonomous weapons, ten months before the UN General Assembly passed its own resolution on the weapons.

When
24 Feb 2023
ID
WTA-N-2023-0157
Where
Costa Rica, International
Who
Government of Costa Rica

Summary by wheresthe.ai, from Human Rights Watch and the reporting credited above. We could not open the primary document, so it is marked Reported. Checked against the source on 9 Oct 2026.

Read the original at Human Rights Watch

Source copy: download the page as saved on 18 Oct 2026 (PDF). Documents the source offers: document 1 (PDF), document 2 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.

Next stop on this Storyline: Led toUN General Assembly adopts resolution 78/241 on lethal autonomous weapons

Cite this story

WTA-N-2023-0157: “33 Latin American and Caribbean states call for a treaty on autonomous weapons.” wheresthe.ai, 24 Feb 2023. https://wheresthe.ai/d/intl-belen-communique-autonomous-weapons-2023-02/ (source: Human Rights Watch).

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