Box V - Statement by Stop Killer Robots to the GGE on lethal autonomous weapons systems, 2-6 March 2026

The following statement was delivered on Wednesday, 4 March 2026, by Jennifer Menninger to delegates participating in the meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), which took place on 2-6 March 2026.

Thank you, Chair.

Stop Killer Robots welcomes that the text continues to recognise that responsibility and accountability cannot be transferred to machines, stated in paragraph 1.

Regarding the reference in paragraph 2 to a ‘chain of human command and control’, we would like to emphasise that chains of command and control will and must always be human.

We would like to reiterate that meaningful responsibility and accountability can only be possible if there is meaningful human control over weapons systems.

Alongside elements in other boxes of the rolling text that we have already commented on, we therefore welcome paragraph 3 of box V. This sets out further measures that can be taken to contribute to users’ functional understanding of systems, which is a key component of meaningful human control.

We urge states to retain all elements in the current rolling text that relate to ensuring meaningful human control, and use these as a basis for the negotiation of robust and clear rules and requirements on autonomous weapons systems as part of a legally binding instrument.

Thank you, Chair.