Author: Lara Chatinian

Discussions at the United Nations on autonomous weapons ended without reaching an agreement to launch negotiations on an international treaty to regulate their use on Friday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) had been pushing for negotiators to begin work on an international treaty that would establish legally-binding new rules on the machine-operated weapons.

Unlike existing semi-autonomous weapons such as drones, fully-autonomous weapons have no human-operated "kill switch" and instead leave decisions over life and death to sensors, software and machine processes.

Opponents say they raise the risks for civilians, pose problems for accountability and increase the chances of conflict escalation.

The Geneva talks, ongoing for eight years, have taken on new urgency since a U.N. panel report in March that said the first autonomous drone attack may have already occurred in Libya.

"It's a real missed opportunity and not in our view what is needed to respond to the risks posed by autonomous weapons," Neil Davison, a policy adviser in the Legal Division at the ICRC, said of the outcome of the weeklong talks.

Many countries also expressed disappointment in the outcome.

"At the present rate of progress, the pace of technological development risks overtaking our deliberations," Switzerland's Disarmament Ambassador Felix Baumann said.

The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons which has 125 parties has been discussing possible limits on the use of lethal autonomous weapons, or LAWS, which are fully machine-operated and use new technology such as artificial intelligence and facial recognition.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had called for countries to come up with an "ambitious plan" on new rules.

Sources following the talks said that Russia, India and the United States were among the countries who expressed doubts about the need for a new LAWS treaty. Washington has previously pointed to their possible benefits, such as precision.

Clare Conboy of campaign group Stop Killer Robots said the outcome was one that "keeps the minority of militarized states investing in developing these weapons very happy."

She said she expected the many countries in favor of a new law, such as New Zealand or Austria, to begin negotiations outside of the U.N.

The Yeraskh railway (Photo by Neil Hauer for RFE/RL)

Economy Minister Says Price Tag for Railway will Pass $1 Billion

During a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev reaffirmed an agreement and decision on constructing a railway that will open transport routes to Iran and Russia.

The Soviet-era rail link goes from Yeraskh in Armenia’s Ararat Province, to Julfa and Ordubad in Nakhichevan (bordering Iran), from where it goes to Meghri and to Horadiz in Azerbaijan.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Pashinyan said that this agreement was reached as a result of the discussions of the trilateral (Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan) task force dealing with the opening of regional connections.

He added that this agreement was recorded during his meeting with Aliyev in Sochi on November 26, which was mediated by the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pashinyan told his cabinet that the issue was also discussed in Brussels in the meeting mediate by the President of the European Council Charles Michel.

“I am underscoring that the railway will function in accordance to internationally accepted border and customs regulations on reciprocal principle, under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries. With this railway Armenia will receive access to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, while Azerbaijan will receive railway access to Nakhichevan,” Pashinyan said.

The prime minister highlighted that if Armenia succeeds in starting some dialogue with Turkey and if the opening of border and connections are successful then this project could become more major, referencing the now dormant Yeraskh-Gyumri-Kars railway.

“Of course, before the construction itself there’s a lot to be done, to develop, announce tenders, to reach agreements. Of course, a part of this work is already done, but now we must solve this objective with practical and daily work. Certainly, we will hold detailed consultations in the coming days to further specify our ideas, the timeframes and the roadmap. Our intention and desire is to have this railway as soon as possible. I wouldn’t want to overestimate the importance of this agreement and project, but on the other hand I don’t want to underestimate it: this is an important agreement, which, I certainly hope we will implement accurately, and which will significantly change the region’s economic, investment, political and security environment, and we must soon focus on solving this issue as well,” Pashinyan said.

Armenia’s Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan revealed estimated costs for the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, saying that to effort will cost more than $1 billion.

Speaking to reporters after Thursday’s cabinet meeting, he said that some nuances must be taken into account, ranging from the timeframes up to the specific parts where the railway will be constructed.

“I know that very little money is required for repairing the rails from Armenia to Iran near Yeraskh. It’s just about a few hundred meters of renovation there,” said Kerobyan.

“The second, more significant investment is the restoration of the railway in Meghri, which is rather costly because the old railway has been entirely dismantled and turned into a highway. I think we don’t have a concrete project there and we don’t have an approximate estimate. I think the issue can be solved for around $200 million. While the construction of the railway from the Armenian border to Horadiz will require more major investments. The investments here are greater, it will take more than a billion dollars,” Kerobyan explained.