Anticipating the Impact of Scientific Developments on International Peace and Security
Expected Council Action
In October, Switzerland plans to convene a high-level briefing on “Anticipating the impact of scientific developments on international peace and security”, under the “Maintenance of international peace and security” agenda item. This is one of the signature events of the Swiss presidency. Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis is expected to chair the meeting.
Background
A New Agenda for Peace, which outlines the Secretary-General’s vision for addressing peace and security challenges and was intended to help inform the deliberations at the Summit of the Future, notes the effects of technology on the peace and security landscape. It states that “rapidly advancing and converging technologies have the potential to revolutionize conflict dynamics”, adding that “developments in artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, including those related to weapons systems, are exposing the insufficiency of existing governance frameworks”.
On 22 September, the General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/79/1, endorsing the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact. In Action 27 of the Pact, member states acknowledged that rapid technological advances offer both opportunities and risks to maintaining international peace and security. They committed to leveraging the benefits of new and emerging technologies while addressing the potential risks stemming from their misuse. Member states requested the Secretary-General to keep them informed through his mandated reporting on current developments in science and technology and their potential impact on international security and disarmament efforts.
In recent years, the Security Council has periodically explored the potential of science to promote international peace and security. On 23 May 2022, the US organised a briefing on technology and security. The Council also convened its first formal meeting on artificial intelligence on 18 July 2023, a high-level briefing initiated by the UK titled “Artificial intelligence: Opportunities and risks for international peace and security”.
In addition, Council members have received briefings about the scientific data linking environmental factors to security concerns in both formal sessions and Arria-formula meetings. In this regard, Valérie Masson-Delmotte—Co-Chair of Working Group I at the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which assesses the physical science of climate change—briefed the Council in an Arria-formula meeting on the science of sea-level rise on 18 October 2021. In addition, Chief Scientist of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Pavel Kabat briefed the Council on 25 January 2019 in a meeting convened at the initiative of the Dominican Republic on “Addressing the impacts of climate-related disasters on international peace and security”.
This year, Switzerland organised two informal meetings of Security Council members to explore how science can strengthen the Council’s response to global challenges. On 17 May, Switzerland convened an Arria-formula meeting on “Unlocking the potential of science for peace and security”. Thomas Gürber, State Secretary of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation, delivered opening remarks and chaired the meeting. The briefers included Henrietta Fore, former Executive Director of UNICEF (2018-2022) and a board member of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator, a foundation co-founded by the Swiss government in 2019 that leverages science and technology to generate “inclusive and global solutions for a sustainable future”; Dr. Sascha Langenbach, a data scientist at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH Zürich University; and Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian, the Force Commander of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). (For more information, see our 16 May What’s in Blue story.)
On 26 August, during the second day of an informal visit of Security Council members to Geneva, three sessions were held focusing on “Preventing emerging security risks through innovation, science, and technology”. The third session centred on the future implications of scientific advances on global peace and security. Briefers from the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator provided a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge developments in AI, quantum technologies, synthetic biology, and neurotechnology. These fields were identified as crucial to future peace and security opportunities and challenges, with the convergence of these technologies expected to drive significant changes in the coming decades. (For more, see our 3 September What’s in Blue story.)
According to Switzerland’s Foreign Policy Strategy for 2024–2027, science can “contribute to diplomatic efforts in the context of good offices, peace promotion and global governance”. The strategy identifies “anticipatory science diplomacy” as seeking to “identify the implications of new scientific developments for the global common goods as early as possible and to make them of use to the general public”.
| Security Council Meeting Records | |
| 18 July 2023S/PV.9381 | This is the meeting record on a high-level briefing on “Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Risks for International Peace and Security”. |
| 23 May 2022S/PV.9039 | This was a briefing on technology and security. |
