Position paper
Committee: United Nations General Assembly- DISEC
Agenda: Warfare 5.0 Militarization of Drones, AI and Cyber Conflicts
Portfolio: The Italian Republic
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) remains a binding articulation
of individual criminal responsibility under international law. Article8(2)(b)(i) criminalizes
“intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual
civilians not taking direct part in hostilities.” In the context of autonomous drones or algorithm-
driven targeting systems, the absence of a culpable human operator creates an accountability
vacuum: if a drone commits an indiscriminate strike, who is the “individual” liable under the
Statute?
Italy, as a founding member of the ICC and strong proponent of multilateralism, proposes a
dual-layered solution:
Normative Codification — Expand the interpretative scope of the Rome Statute and reaffirm
the Martens Clause in DISEC resolutions, clarifying that “autonomous use of force absent human
oversight” is incompatible with existing IHL.
Institutional Mechanism — Establish within the UN a Permanent Expert Panel on
Autonomous and Cyber Weapons, mandated to advise the ICC Prosecutor on novel
technological cases, ensuring crimes committed through drones or cyber systems do note scape
legal scrutiny.
However, loopholes in the regulation of autonomous drones and cyber warfare create a
"responsibility vacuum," where attribution of breaches is uncertain. The Martens Clause here
acts as an ethical backstop: forcing states to act in line with humanity and public conscience
where the law fails to speak. Italy holds that the Rome Statute and Martens Clause are
complementary, one establishes legal liability, the other determines moral interpretation and fills
normative gaps by insisting on the principles of humanity and public conscience.
Many such customary guidelines can do wonder for the implementation of a much better legal
jurisdiction in matters such as these for which the ILC under their mandate should submit reports
in accordance to a fact-finding mission to be consisted in the conflicted regions and the ILC legal
report can then be submitted to,
a. Primarily, the ICJ as the mandate clearly dictates,
b. To the ad-hoc committee suggested for immediate ground-level implementation of the legal
jurisdiction observed,
c. Respective tribunals that have the authority to provide judgements relevant to the situation.
The Italian Government also put in place regulatory sandboxes to facilitate controlled
experiments with innovative products, including AI. The initiative called Sperimentazione
Italia grants the possibility to companies, universities, research bodies, university start-ups and
spin-offs from any sector to test pilot projects in the field of digitalization and technological
innovation, derogating regulatory constraints. For safe AI developments, it is as important to
develop an ethics by design approach as much as to ground it in a binding legislative framework
at national level to protect citizens and businesses. In this respect, the Italian strategy
encompasses the following initiatives on legislation and related issues.
Proposals & Way Forward
Further the Italian strategy highlights that an ethical regulatory framework for AI has to
ensure transparency, accountability and reliability in order to stimulate citizens’ trust and
engagement in a thriving AI ecosystem. The 2020 strategy for technological innovation and
digitalization by the Ministry for Technological Innovation and Digitalisation foresees the
creation of an ‘Alliance for Sustainable Artificial Intelligence’ with the aim to provide guiding
principles for the development of trustworthy AI solutions. The national AI strategy also
emphasises the importance of campaigns to inform citizens on the characteristics, opportunities
and risks of AI as much as on its potential misuse.
Italy underscores 75/36 (2020) UNGA Resolution on “Developments in the field of information
and telecommunications in the context of international security” and UNGA Resolution 68/243
(2013) reaffirming that international law, including the UN Charter, fully applies to cyberspace.
Furthermore, Italy supports the binding nature of the Geneva Conventions (1949) and Additional
Protocol I (1977), which remain applicable to drone and AI warfare, and calls for the integration
of the principle of “Meaningful Human Control” into all lethal autonomous weapon systems, as
highlighted in CCW (Convention on Certain highlighted in CCW (Convention on Certain
Conventional Weapons) discussions. In addition, Italy proposes the adoption of a new protocol
under the CCW specifically regulating AI-enabled weapons and drones, drawing inspiration
from past success stories such as the Prohibition Arms Trade Treaty (2014) and the Treaty
on the of Nuclear Weapons (2017), which demonstrate that multilateral disarmament
agreements are achievable)
Italy proposes frameworks such as the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime (2001), while
pioneering, remain focused largely on criminal cooperation rather than the state-to-state
militarization of cyberspace. To address the rapidly escalating threats of drone warfare, AI
weaponization, and cyber conflicts, a “Geneva Convention on Digital & Autonomous Warfare”
could be proposed — expanding on Budapest’s foundation but adapting it to armed conflict.
Such a treaty would:
(1) enshrine the principle of meaningful human control in all lethal autonomous weapons,
reaffirming that accountability cannot be delegated to algorithms;
(2) establish a mechanism for joint attribution of state-sponsored cyberattacks to close the
accountability vacuum; and
(3) mandate confidence-building measures like prior notification of large-scale cyber or drone
military exercises to prevent miscalculation.
Thus, by building on Budapest but shifting towards state responsibility and warfare regulation,
this treaty would create a global legal firewall against the weaponization of digital and
autonomous technologies. Lastly, to increase citizens’ engagement, there will be a national
platform, like the European AI Alliance, for consultations on ethical and social issues about AI.
Finally, Italy takes part in the EU-funded project EXSCALATE4COV that exploits the most
powerful computing resources currently based in Europe to foster smart in- silico drug design
while increasing the accuracy and predictability of Computer-Aided Drug Design. Specifically,
the project involves three among the most powerful supercomputing centres in the EU: CINECA
in Italy, the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC) in Spain and the Julich Supercomputing
Centre(JSC) in Germany. The collaboration also includes pharmaceutical companies and major
institutes of biology and bio-molecular dynamics from across Europe.
In a nutshell, the militarization of drones, AI, and cyber weapons has outpaced existing
international law, creating an accountability vacuum. While states argue that new technology
requires new rules, in reality existing humanitarian law already applies. However, binding
treaties like a Drone Convention, a Cyber Peace Convention, and a Human Control Protocol are
essential to prevent escalation, reduce civilian harm, and restore trust in the international system.
