The UN inquiry into the use of armed drones for targeted killing, announced yesterday by London-based UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, Ben Emmerson, is very much to be welcomed. Undertaken at the direct request of several states,… Read More ›
On both sides of the Atlantic, legal challenges related to US drone use are about to hit the courts. Tomorrow the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will take the CIA to court for refusing to comply with a Freedom of… Read More ›
A new US Congress report on the proliferation of drones has confirmed a huge rise in the number of countries that now have military unmanned aerial systems. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published an unclassified version of its February… Read More ›
Over the past week there has been what looks like the beginning of a concerted effort by advocates of drones to put their case to the public. On Monday, Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan gave a widely reported speech… Read More ›
The Washington Post reported this week that the CIA is seeking to expand its use of drone strikes in Yemen. According to the report, the CIA is currently “limited” within Yemen to using drone strikes against known individuals on a… Read More ›
The following is excerpted from a new briefing written by Nathalie Van Raemdonck of Istituto Affari Internazionali. ‘Vested Interest or Moral Indecisiveness? Explaining the EU’s Silence on the US Targeted Killing Policy in Pakistan’ explores the US policy of targeted killing and the EU’s (lack… Read More ›
It was announced yesterday that a legal proceedings will be initiated in the High Court in London to challenge British complicity in US drone strikes in Pakistan. Reprieve together with Leigh Day & Co, acting on behalf of the family… Read More ›
Our post last week analysing the available information about UK drone strikes in Afghanistan was covered by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as The Daily Mail (which interestingly included criticism of some strikes by a retired British Major… Read More ›
For the first time, the United States has confirmed that it is undertaking drone strikes in Pakistan. Many may feel that this has long been an open secret as unnamed officials regularly take to the press about CIA drone strikes. However… Read More ›
The main international agreement controlling the proliferation of drones, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), is coming under increasing pressure from drone manufacturers who see it as out-dated and ‘a drag’ on the development of their industry. The Missile Technology… Read More ›
Another two British men have reportedly been killed in US drone strikes. Ibrahim Adam (24) and Mohammed Azmir Khan (38) were said by their families to have been killed in separate drone strikes up to three months ago. While reports vary,… Read More ›
The drone wars continue to develop with strikes taking place over the past ten days in Yemen, Somalia and Libya as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The RAF reported, in a unsurprisingly low-key way, that the 200th British drone strike had… Read More ›
