Call For Papers From The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on The Use of Mercenaries
Go to this link to see the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) call for papers.
The UNHRC working group on the use of mercenaries is collecting evidence on how today’s “technology stack”—from AI and synthetic media to drones, commercial geospatial services, cloud hosting, data brokerage, and crypto-financing—is reshaping mercenary and private military/security activity. They’re looking for concrete inputs, such as case studies, data, patterns, accountability barriers, and governance ideas.
Deadline: February 15, 2026
Purpose: Inform the working group’s report to the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council (September 2026).
Length/format/language: 10,000 words (20 pages), Word or PDF, English/French/Spanish
Publication note: Submissions are posted publicly at the UNHRC’s website unless you request confidentiality at the time of submission
Topic Areas:
- Technology Stack, AI, and Autonomy
- Space and Geospatial Services
- Supply Chains, Procurement, and Export Controls
- Cloud, Data, and Platforms
- Financing and Monetization
- Evidence, Attribution, and Accountability
- Intersectional, Sectoral, and Human Rights Impact
- Good Practices and Governance Innovations
The UNHRC is requesting inputs that help them:
- Map new and emerging tech-enabled roles for mercenaries/mercenary-related actors/PMSCs.
- Analyze human rights impacts in conflict and non-conflict settings.
- Identify legal/regulatory/jurisdictional/evidentiary gaps that block accountability.
- Assess the enabling role of supply-chain actors (cloud/AI providers, data brokers, resellers, financiers/insurers, etc.).
- Surface good practices and governance innovations that actually work.
