UN First Committee adopts the autonomous-weapons resolution with 163 votes in favour; the military-AI resolution draws 171 supporters

What L.37 says and the five states against

The resolution calls upon CCW High Contracting Parties to "advance to negotiations on an instrument on autonomous weapons systems", building on the set of elements developed by the Group of Governmental Experts, and its preamble cites the Secretary-General's calls to begin negotiating a legally binding instrument under a two-tier approach of prohibitions and regulations. A fourth consecutive adoption means support has grown from 152 at the first vote in 2023 to 156 and now 163. The text itself sets no deadline; the "within one year, by the end of 2027" timeline is Stop Killer Robots' demand.

According to an expert newsletter, the five states voting against were the United States, Russia, Belarus, North Korea and Israel. Ireland, speaking for 52 states the week before the vote, called the GGE elements "a solid and sufficient basis" for a mandate, and Belgium warned that failing to adopt one "would significantly weaken stakeholders' confidence in the capacity of the CCW". A US State Department spokesperson said "we do not comment on ongoing negotiations"; Russia's mission did not respond. The UN meeting record could not be retrieved, so the named positions rest on secondary sources.

The Korea–Netherlands text and structured dialogues in 2027–28

South Korea's foreign ministry said the 81st session's First Committee adopted the resolution on AI in the military domain, co-led by Korea and the Netherlands, with 171 member states in support, the third consecutive adoption after 2024 and 2025. Following the REAIM summit track, the text calls for "structured dialogues" in Geneva in 2027 and 2028. The breakdown of votes against and abstentions and the number of co-sponsors were not given in the reporting; in 2025 the United States and Russia voted against. Final adoption of both resolutions takes place in the General Assembly plenary in December.

The draft negotiating mandate before the CCW Review Conference

Ambassador Elmer Schialer of Peru, chair-designate of Main Committee II of the Seventh Review Conference (Geneva, 16–20 November), circulated on 23 October a draft under which states parties would open negotiations on an instrument on autonomous weapons, with 15 negotiating days in each of 2027 and 2028 and a draft protocol to be completed by 2028. That is a year longer than the proposal tabled in early October by a cross-regional group of seven states (25 negotiating days, a draft protocol in 2027).

Schialer and the president-designate, Switzerland's Ambassador Julien Thöni, began closed-door consultations with Geneva missions on 28 October, with the next round set for 2 November. Because the CCW operates by consensus, the United States and Russia, which voted against in New York, retain room to block a mandate. Norway wants "a strong negotiation mandate for prohibitions and regulations" and Egypt wants negotiations "concluded within a fixed, determined timeframe"; the November conference will have to find a landing point between those demands and the reservations of Washington and Moscow.