Drone wars

Policy, ethics and effectiveness around UAVs

It’s fair to say that drones generally get bad press, primarily because of hostile reactions to the US’s targeted killing campaigns against terrorists in Iraq, Pakistan’s tribal areas, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Yemen. Israeli drone strikes in the Gaza and the West Bank add fuel to the fire.

This is a complex matter, but two key points are clear enough. The first is that the US and Israel have not satisfactorily justified their campaigns within the protocols of the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Armed Conflict. Until they do, their actions will be open to accusations of illegality, unethical practice and immoral behaviour. The main problem here, incidentally, especially in the case of the US, is that an official state of war has not been declared against the various groups being targeted by drone strikes. Were this to happen, the rationale for asserting that the attacks are illegal would largely disappear.