The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is the office of the UN Secretariat responsible for disarmament. It is headed by the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, a post held in 2024–2026 by Izumi Nakamitsu, who delivered video statements to the opening sessions of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems in 2024, 2025 and 2026 (Report of the 2024–2025–2026 Sessions of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS (CCW/GGE.1/2026/3)).
Role in the CCW process on autonomous weapons
Officers of UNODA's Geneva Branch served in the Group's secretariat alongside the CCW Implementation Support Unit, whose Political Affairs Officers acted as the Group's Secretaries (Report of the 2024–2025–2026 Sessions of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS (CCW/GGE.1/2026/3)). UNODA's meetings site and document library publish the Group's agendas, working papers, rolling texts, draft reports and final report, including CCW/GGE.1/2026/3, the report containing the 2026 set of elements on LAWS (Source: meetings.unoda.org).
Relationships
- related: Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, Report of the 2024–2025–2026 Sessions of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS (CCW/GGE.1/2026/3)
- related: António Guterres — UN Secretary-General, who called in July 2026 for lethal autonomous weapons to be banned by international law
- related: Autonomous Weapons