Abstract
A drone industry has emerged in the US, initially funded almost exclusively for military applications. There are now also other uses both governmental and commercial (in the US and abroad). Many military drones are still being made, however, especially for surveillance and targeted killings. Regarding the latter, this essay calls into question their legality and morality. It recognizes that the issues are complex and controversial, but less so as to the killing of non-combatant civilians. The government using drones for targeted killings maintains secrecy and appeals to non-traditional justifications. Most scholars who assess these killer drone practices support citizen immunity, either by favoring a modified just war theory that prioritizes civilians’ right to life or by challenging official deviations from applicable laws. They accordingly declare such killing immoral if not a war crime. The manufacturers of these killer drones are not themselves the killers, but they are abetters, i.e., sine qua non facilitators. So, I argue that any company concerned about its corporate social responsibility should cease manufacturing them.
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Notes
See Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, The Drone Exemptions Database, online at http://www.dronecenterbard.edu.
Killing innocent civilians is currently the subject of a lawsuit. See Scott Shane, “Families of Drone Strike Victims in Yemen File Suit in Washington.” New York Times, 8 June 2015.
Available online at https://www.icrc.org/customary_ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule89.
ICRC, Interpretative Guidance on Direct Participation in Hostilities, Protocol of 8 June 1977 Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Concerning the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, Article 51(3), Online at http://www.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/INTRO/470?OpenDocument; ICRC. Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law. International Review of the Red Cross 90, no. 872 (2008), Online at http://www.icrc.org/resources/documents/article/review/review-872-F991.htm; ICRC. Civilian “direct participation in hostilities”: overview. Online at http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/contemporary-challenge-for-ihl/participation-hostilities/overview-direct-participation.htm.
Boumediene v. Bush et al. 553 U.S. 723 (2008).
Regarding land mines, see the Ottawa Treaty (also called the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or simply the Mine Ban Treaty), officially known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. To date, there are 162 States Parties to the treaty. One state has signed but not ratified (The Marshall Islands), while 34 UN states including the United States, Russia, and China are non-signatories, making a total of 35 United Nations states not party. See Wikipedia. Regarding cluster bombs, see the Convention on Cluster Munitions, adopted May 30, 2008 in Dublin, entered into force on 1 August 2010. As of October 2015, 108 states have signed the treaty and 98 have ratified it or acceded to it. The US is not a signatory.
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Byrne, E.F. Making Drones to Kill Civilians: Is it Ethical?. J Bus Ethics 147, 81–93 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2950-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2950-4