Lawful by Design Initiative

Encouraging national compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by integrating legal requirements into the design and development of new technology weapons.

What are the benefits of the initiative?

  • Integrate legal considerations early in the development cycle of weapons systems or technologies to avoid costly or ethically problematic revisions later.

  • Minimize the chances of deploying unlawful or controversial systems (e.g., autonomous weapons that can't comply with distinction or proportionality rules).

  • Promote the design of technologies that not only meet legal standards but also reflect broader ethical commitments, including human responsibility and accountability.

  • Enhance trust in new systems by ensuring they will not hinder compliance with IHL on the battlefield, thus making them more viable for adoption.

  • Encourage clear processes to support reviews and potential investigations, fostering both internal accountability and public trust.

A hand touching a plasma globe with blue and pink electric arcs.

What is the Lawful by Design Initiative?

The Lawful by Design initiative aims to integrate legal and ethical compliance into the earliest stages of military technology design, rather than addressing these obligations retrospectively during later phases of development.

It supports and promotes national implementation of Article 36 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which requires states to review the legality of new weapons, means, or methods of warfare before their deployment.

How does the LBD initiative work?

The LBD initiative encourages:

  • defence industry to voluntarily commit to considering how IHL impacts the design, development, and use of new technology weapons and mitigating legal risks associated with the design, development, and deployment of new technology weapons; and

  • States to incorporate IHL requirements in their acquisition processes by including legal review requirements within tender documentation (i.e. requiring defence industry to demonstrate their product’s ability to be used in compliance with IHL).