Abstract
The essay makes a critical review of the legal debate in the USA and in the United Nations on moral and legal issues involved in military use of drones in wars of today. The main goal was to study the main lines of argument ant its relevance to military practice of targeted killing. We found that legal criticism is on the increase but the military practice continues. We stress the moral risk of using the autonomous weapons. In conclusion, we suggest the need for new both domestic and international regulations of any use of drones before they become fully autonomous and beyond control. Timing is crucial. If humans will not control the technology, the technology will control humans. New UN convention on smart weapons and the conditions under which its use should be allowed is a matter of practical necessity as the number of states using it increases so fast.
If we are to ignore the pain of others, how are we to heal the damage?
Former drone operator, Brandon Bryant
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Notes
- 1.
Harold Hongju Koh is the Legal Adviser of the Department of State, the 22nd to serve in that position. He is one of the country’s leading experts on public and private international law, national security law, and human rights. He is on leave from Yale Law School, where he is the Martin R. Flug '55 Professor of International Law at Yale Law School. From 2004 to 2009, Koh served as the 15th Dean of Yale Law School. From 1993 to 2009, he was also the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School. From 1998 to 2001, Koh served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. He previously served on the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Public International Law. A Marshall Scholar, Koh graduated from Harvard, Oxford, and Harvard Law School, and has received eleven honorary degrees and more than 30 awards for his human rights work, including awards from Columbia Law School and the American Bar Association for his lifetime achievements in International law.
- 2.
The critics say this damage is unacceptable as too many civilians got killed or wounded.
- 3.
“In the intelligence gathered at bin Laden’s compound, we found that he wrote, “We could lose the reserves to enemy’s air strikes. We cannot fight air strikes with explosives.” Other communications from al-Qaeda operatives confirm this as well”—Remarks by the President of May 23, 2013.
- 4.
US Policy Standards and Procedures for the Use of Force in Counterterrorism Operations outside the United States and Areas of Active Hostilities is a short brief made available on the White House Web site. The full document is classified.
- 5.
Polling in this area of low knowledge is of limited value, however. It is instructive of public opinion any more than asking people on the street about the Higgs Boson particle. People are only aware of vague details and have absorbed willfully incorrect memes and images from the media. Explaining the military drone program and the issues surrounding it requires a minimum of a 20 min conversation.
- 6.
The New York University School of Law professors have established in Autumn 2013 a successful Web site on security related legal thinking /justsecurity.org/.
- 7.
On the other hand, there is in the USA the “Guantánamo bar”—the 500 or so lawyers, many of them from top-drawer firms, leading law schools, and civil liberties organizations—who are representing terrorist defendants. Many of them have often gone far beyond providing competent counsel in court.
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Lamentowicz, W. (2017). Legal and Moral Dilemmas of Targeted Killing by Drones. In: Zacher, L. (eds) Technology, Society and Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47164-8_12
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