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The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and its concerns over the prospect of weapons systems that would be able to select and engage targets without meaningful human control features this week in a Newsweek Japan special edition on robotics. The issue comes as US President Barack Obama met with representatives from Japanese robotics companies and their robots during his visit to Japan in April 2014. He reportedly said of the experience, “We saw some truly amazing robots—although I have to say the robots were a little scary.”

Members of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots this week called on the government of Canada to support the creation of new international law to pre-emptive ban fully autonomous weapons or ‘killer robots’ as part of a new outreach…

On 10 April, the Irish launch of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots took place at at Trinity College Dublin with a  keynote address by Professor Noel Sharkey, chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, a founder of the global Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Afri—a peace and human rights organisation that opposes war and militarization—held the launch in association with the International Peace Studies Programme of the Irish School of Ecumenics. Other  organisations participating in the Irish Campaign to Stop Killer Robots include Amnesty International Ireland and Pax Christi Ireland.

The first Chatham House conference on autonomous military technologies in London on 24-25 February brought together individuals from different constituencies to contemplate autonomous weapons and the prospect of delegating human control over targeting and attack decisions to machines. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots was pleased to be able to attend this well-organized and timely conference held under the Chatham House rule, which permits participants to use information received but not to reveal the identity or affiliation of the speaker or participants. The conference was a useful opportunity to discuss our concerns with fully autonomous weapons, provide clarifications, and answer questions about our coalition’s focus and objectives.

In early March, members of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots briefed United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s advisory board on disarmament matters on the emerging international concern over killer robots. The UN Secretary-General himself spoke about autonomous weapons systems at the board's meeting on 7 March and encouraged its members to continue looking at what can be done about the weapons.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the use of armed drones that includes a call for a ban on killer robots. The resolution sponsored by the Greens/European Free Alliance group of Members of the European Parliament…

On February 12, a much-anticipated remake of the 1987 film Robocop opened in movie theatres across the United States. Both the original and remake portray the transformation of a policeman in the future into a man-machine hybrid, but the remake also provides some compelling messages for emerging efforts to control fully autonomous weapons in the real world. [Warning –this review contains spoilers]

Action on Armed Violence--a member of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots--has published the following infographic on fully autonomous weapons and the growing international movement to ban the weapons.

The diplomatic agreement reached by nations on November 15 to begin addressing concerns about fully autonomous weapons or “killer robots” was the most significant milestone to date for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, which is working to ensure that targeting and attack decisions are never relinquished to machines. It capped off what has been a remarkable year for this international coalition of non-governmental organizations, which can claim much of the credit for drawing attention to the relentless move toward full autonomy in lethal robotic weapons systems which, unchallenged, would forever change the way wars are fought.