Article 36 Podcast

In this episode, Article 36 discusses the intersessional working groups that are taking place in 2023 ahead of the Second Meeting of State Parties (2MSP). Policy advisor, Elizabeth Minor, who also collaborates with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) gives an update on the content of the meetings and the progress – highlighting the work that Article 36 has focused on in particular on Articles 6 & 7 on victim assistance, environmental remediation and international cooperation and assistance.

In this episode, the Article 36 team discusses the second Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) meeting on autonomous weapons of 2023, which concluded on Saturday, 20th May. At the request of Russia, this meeting saw the exclusion of civil society and observers from the final negotiation of its report - a report that was predictably uninspiring. Richard Moyes, who attended the meeting in Geneva, provides a summary of the content of the report, and highlights that it fails to reflect the real momentum and energy we have already seen in 2023 towards a legal instrument on autonomous weapons.

In this podcast, Article 36 discusses progress in early 2023 towards a legally binding instrument to regulate autonomy in weapons systems. Richard Moyes and Uldduz Sohrabi go over the recently issued Communiqué by 33 Latin American and Caribbean states, the ReAim conference hosted by the government of the Netherlands, the upcoming Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) meetings, and discuss the work ahead.

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In this episode we discuss the United Kingdom’s position on the question of regulating autonomous weapon systems. The Article 36 team is joined by guest Maira Folly, coordinator of the UK campaign to Stop Killer Robots, to talk about all the recent updates and movements on the UK political scene, including the the House of Lords’ creation of a Special Select Committee on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Weapon Systems.

After years of building awareness of the humanitarian impacts from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and seeking to advocating for an effective response to this issue, this year has seen important progress: namely, the development of an international political declaration. The declaration is the first formal international recognition that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas has severe humanitarian consequences and that these must be addressed urgently.

States will meet in Dublin, Ireland on 18 November 2022 to endorse the new political declaration. In this episode, Uldduz Sohrabi speaks to Laura Boillot and Richard Moyes to discuss how the issue was first framed, how it progressed, and what impact the political declaration can have in shifting norms and behaviour that can better protect civilians in conflict.

States, international organisations, civil society and people from communities impacted by the use and testing of nuclear weapons met together for the first meeting of states parties of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in June in Vienna. In this episode, Article 36 and The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), talk about the outcomes of the meeting and the action plan for states in the time ahead.

In this episode, Elizabeth Minor of Article 36 continues the discussion on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons ahead of the First Meeting of State Parties, which will take place in Vienna on 21-23 June 2022. The discussion focuses specifically on Article 6 and 7, which are articles that focus on victim assistance, environmental remediation and international cooperation and assistance. The purpose of these obligations in the treaty is to address some of the humanitarian and environmental impacts of past nuclear weapons activities that are still felt in communities around the world today.

In this episode, policy advisor at Article 36 Elizabeth Minor talks nuclear weapons, focusing on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and the expectations ahead of the first meeting of states parties is taking place in Vienna in June 2022.

In this episode, Richard Moyes, Elizabeth Minor and Uldduz Sohrabi talk about the outcome at the Convention on Conventional Weapons Review Conference held in Geneva, December 2021, and discuss the path ahead to see the launch of a negotiation take place.