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Netta Goussac
Senior Researcher
Netta Goussac
Netta Goussac is a Senior Researcher in the SIPRI Governance of Artificial Intelligence Programme. Netta has worked as an international lawyer for over a decade, including as Special Counsel for Lexbridge, for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Australian Government’s Office of International Law, and as a lecturer at the Australian National University.
Netta has particular expertise in legal frameworks related to the development, acquisition and transfer of weapons. Netta has provided legal and policy advice and undertaken research related to new technologies of warfare, including autonomous weapons, military applications of artificial intelligence and cyber and space security. Since 2017, Netta has participated in the UN’s Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapon systems. From 2010 to 2013, she participated in the negotiation of the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, and subsequently worked to promote universal adherence to its standards.
Subject expertise
Arms control; arms export controls and policies; Arms Trade Treaty; artificial intelligence; autonomous weapon systems; emerging technologies; international arms transfers; international humanitarian law; law of armed conflict; legal reviews; multilateral negotiations
CONTACT Netta Goussac
Languages
English, French, Hebrew
Education
Master of Laws specializing in international law from the Australian National University (2009)
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia (2006)
SIPRI COMMENTARY
- Dilemmas in the policy debate on autonomous weapon systems (Topical backgrounder, )
SIPRI AND PARTNER PUBLICATIONS
- Compliance with International Humanitarian Law in the Development and Use of Autonomous Weapon Systems: What does IHL Permit, Prohibit and Require? (SIPRI, Stockholm : March 2023)
- Autonomous Weapon Systems and International Humanitarian Law: Identifying Limits and the Required Type and Degree of Human–Machine Interaction (SIPRI, Stockholm: June 2021)
- Limits on Autonomy in Weapon Systems: Identifying Practical Elements of Human Control (SIPRI, Stockholm: June 2020)
- Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence: Can the European Union Lead the Way in Developing Best Practice? (SIPRI, Stockholm: November 2020)
External publications
- Goussac, N., and Pacholska M., The Interpretation and Application of International Humanitarian Law in relation to Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems: Background paper on the views of States, scholars and other experts, UNIDIR (March 2025)
- Wolf, R., et al., Advancing the legal review of autonomous weapon systems: report of an expert meeting, The University of Queensland, (Sep 2024)
- Goussac, N., et al., Enhancing the Legal Review of Autonomous Weapon Systems: Report of an Expert Meeting, The University of Queensland (May 2023)
- Goussac, N., Safety net or tangled web: Legal reviews of AI in weapons and war-fighting Humanitarian law and policy blog, ICRC (April 2019)