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THE INTERNATIONAL LAW FRAMEWORK REGULATING THE USE OF ARMED DRONES

THE INTERNATIONAL LAW FRAMEWORK REGULATING THE USE OF ARMED DRONES
THE INTERNATIONAL LAW FRAMEWORK REGULATING THE USE OF ARMED DRONES
This article provides a holistic examination of the international legal frameworks which regulate targeted killings by drones. The article argues that for a particular drone strike to be lawful, it must satisfy the legal requirements under all applicable international legal regimes, namely: the law regulating the use of force (ius ad bellum); international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It is argued that the legality of a drone strike under the ius ad bellum does not preclude the wrongfulness of that strike under international humanitarian law or international human rights law, and that since those latter obligations are owed to individuals, one State cannot consent to their violation by another State. The article considers the important legal challenges that the use of armed drones poses under each of the three legal frameworks mentioned above. It considers the law relating to the use of force by States against non-State groups abroad. This part examines the principles of self-defence and consent, in so far as they may be relied upon to justify targeted killings abroad. The article then turns to some of the key controversies in the application of international humanitarian law to drone strikes. It examines the threshold for non-international armed conflicts, the possibility of a global non-international armed conflict and the question of who may be targeted in a non-international armed conflict. The final substantive section of the article considers the nature and application of the right to life in armed conflict, as well as the extraterritorial application of that right particularly in territory not controlled by the State conducting the strike.
0020-5893
791-827
Heyns, Christof
90eb1c82-b4ae-416f-a213-05089fdb19c3
Akande, Dapo
c3843374-327c-4ed5-a340-3a57ebb9bce7
Hill-Cawthorne, Lawrence
e1eed4f3-cce6-48aa-91ad-23a1b2e8fd30
Chengeta, Thompson
295753c7-6746-4291-bbbf-3a109ae6f281
Heyns, Christof
90eb1c82-b4ae-416f-a213-05089fdb19c3
Akande, Dapo
c3843374-327c-4ed5-a340-3a57ebb9bce7
Hill-Cawthorne, Lawrence
e1eed4f3-cce6-48aa-91ad-23a1b2e8fd30
Chengeta, Thompson
295753c7-6746-4291-bbbf-3a109ae6f281

Heyns, Christof, Akande, Dapo, Hill-Cawthorne, Lawrence and Chengeta, Thompson (2016) THE INTERNATIONAL LAW FRAMEWORK REGULATING THE USE OF ARMED DRONES. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 65 (4), 791-827. (doi:10.1017/S0020589316000385).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article provides a holistic examination of the international legal frameworks which regulate targeted killings by drones. The article argues that for a particular drone strike to be lawful, it must satisfy the legal requirements under all applicable international legal regimes, namely: the law regulating the use of force (ius ad bellum); international humanitarian law and international human rights law. It is argued that the legality of a drone strike under the ius ad bellum does not preclude the wrongfulness of that strike under international humanitarian law or international human rights law, and that since those latter obligations are owed to individuals, one State cannot consent to their violation by another State. The article considers the important legal challenges that the use of armed drones poses under each of the three legal frameworks mentioned above. It considers the law relating to the use of force by States against non-State groups abroad. This part examines the principles of self-defence and consent, in so far as they may be relied upon to justify targeted killings abroad. The article then turns to some of the key controversies in the application of international humanitarian law to drone strikes. It examines the threshold for non-international armed conflicts, the possibility of a global non-international armed conflict and the question of who may be targeted in a non-international armed conflict. The final substantive section of the article considers the nature and application of the right to life in armed conflict, as well as the extraterritorial application of that right particularly in territory not controlled by the State conducting the strike.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 1 April 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 October 2016
Published date: 17 October 2016

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 431703
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/431703
ISSN: 0020-5893
PURE UUID: 19bf4903-8c13-4f35-98f8-f73617961f1b
ORCID for Thompson Chengeta: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8098-1993

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Jun 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:14

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Contributors

Author: Christof Heyns
Author: Dapo Akande
Author: Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne
Author: Thompson Chengeta ORCID iD

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