Chapter

Drones and the law : why we do not need a new legal framework for targeted killing

Daphne Eviatar

Preventive force : drones, targeted killing, and the transformation of contemporary warfare

New York : New York University Press, 2016

p. 170-198

English

Bibliographie : p. 191-198

In this chapter, Daphne Eviatar reviews the relevant international - international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) - governing states' use of lethal force outside of their borders and discuss the key questions regarding whether or not the United States is involved in an armed conflict with the "associated forces" it targets in drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. She then provides an overview of the two main terrorist groups with which the United States claims to be engaged in armed conflict outside of a clear battlefield and relying heavily on the use of drones, and argues that the United States does not appear to be engaged in a lawful, publicly declared armed conflict with them. This situation does not require us to redefine armed conflict or to create a new legal framework to govern U.S. counterterrorism operations. Nor does it require us to create a new international framework under IHL to specifically govern the development and use of drones. Rather, she demonstrates that the extraterritorial application of IHRL is sufficient to govern U.S. covert lethal action in Pakistan and Yemen. She concludes with a discussion of the importance of providing enough information about the drone program to demonstrate compliance with international human rights law.

• Preventive force : drones, targeted killing, and the transformation of contemporary warfare / ed. by Kerstin Fisk and Jennifer M. Ramos