A/HRC/39/31 was on mitigating the impacts of armed conflict, protecting civilians and upholding the principle of humanity. Thus parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects had adopted restrictions and prohibitions on, for example, the use of incendiary weapons and blinding laser weapons in order to alleviate the suffering of the victims of war. States parties were expected to continue the codification and progressive development of the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict and more recently had held talks in response to concerns raised by the increasing autonomy in weapons systems. 17. Ms. Brehm emphasized that disarmament could help guard against the erosion of long-standing legal principles for the protection of the human person. Debates on science, technology and weaponization included the question of how new weapons and evolving practices of armed violence accorded with existing norms and shaped their future development. Furthermore, disarmament practice could also help support the international rule of law, as illustrated by many States’ reaffirmation of their commitment to a rulesbased international system in reaction to the use of chemical weapons and recent threats to use nuclear weapons. 18. Promoting the rule of law required respect for human rights. While international humanitarian law remained the dominant legal framework for humanitarian disarmament, some instruments explicitly recognized the human rights dimension of weapons and armed violence. Notably, States increasingly accepted a duty to respond to the needs and realize the rights of survivors of anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions and the remnants of other explosive weapons. Both the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons contained provisions under which States assumed an obligation to provide assistance to survivors and other affected persons, without discrimination, including medical care, rehabilitation and psychological support, and to provide for their social and economic inclusion in accordance with human rights law. States had also assumed increasing responsibilities in relation to the aftermath of weapons use. For example, clearance of contaminated land was a key duty assumed by States parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of AntiPersonnel Mines and on Their Destruction; the Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (Protocol V); and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Under the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, States parties also assumed an obligation to take measures for the environmental remediation of contaminated areas. That was consistent with the recognition in the treaty of the grave implications of nuclear weapons for human survival, the environment, socioeconomic development, the global economy, food security and the health of current and future generations. 19. Beyond measures in relation to particular weapon types, recent humanitarian disarmament debates had also provided an opportunity to engage with more systemic issues that obstructed peace within and between societies. In particular, gendered aspects of armed violence and the differential impacts of weapons had been problematized, for example in relation to so-called signature drone strikes and other applications of algorithm-based targeting and in relation to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. Furthermore, States parties to the Arms Trade Treaty accepted a duty to assess the risk that weapons proposed for export might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international human rights law or international humanitarian law, including serious acts of gender-based violence. Victim assistance under those instruments had to be age and gender sensitive. The preamble of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons acknowledged the disproportionate impact of ionizing radiation on women and girls and the disproportionate impact of nuclear-weapon activities on indigenous peoples. Ms. Brehm also noted discussions about the lack of inclusiveness and diversity in forums and bodies that deliberated on and made decisions about disarmament policy. 20. Ms. Brehm stressed that disarmament processes offered an important chance for transformation towards more peaceful and less violent ways of resolving conflicts, for example by changing the perception of threats in the relations between actors and by 5