Search: drones
19 May Weekend Roundup: May 12-18, 2012
This week on Opinio Juris, Chris Borgen posted about Peter Watts’ short story on the legal and ethical questions relating to the use of autonomous aerial combat drones; Julian Ku shared Cato Institute’s Walter Olson’s observations on the revolving door between the UN and the US legal academy; Kevin Heller gave an account of his PhD viva at Leiden; and Roger Alford made us guess which six countries were the focus of the AP Comparative Government this week. Peter Spiro continued last week’s discussion on US taxation of US expats...15 Feb New Edition International Law Frameworks
...laws governing the resort to, and use of, armed force. The chapters on the use of force and armed conflict include new reflections on the role of government lawyers and consider new developments in substantive law in an era of drones and “cyberwarfare.” The fourth and final part considers the relationship between domestic law and international law. This is the portion of the book most closely geared to the demands of U.S. law practice. At the same time, it introduces readers to other countries’ views on issues such as jurisdiction,...12 Apr Weekday News Wrap: Friday, April 12, 2013
...a target was absolutely isolated and no chance of collateral damage.” And speaking of drones, Foreign Policy offers ten ways to fix the drone war. The UK will not invite Argentinian president Cristina Fernandez to the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, but later decided that “good manners” required that at the very least the Argentinian ambassador should be invited. Julian will be happy to see some sign of progress at last: the ICJ will hear Australia’s case against Japan over the latter’s whaling program in late June and early July. At...26 Oct Chase Madar on the Weaponisation of Human Rights
...of government are weighing in on how wars should be fought: in the United States, the phrase “human rights-based approach to drones” passes without much comment in the legal academy and mainstream media. As the grandees of the human rights movement enter high office throughout North America and Western Europe, what is the effect of this legal doctrine on warfare–and vice versa?Will this blossoming relationship bring about more humanity in warfare? Or is human rights being conscripted into ever more militarized foreign policy? SOAS has now made the video of...
19 Aug Emerging Voices: Immigration, Iris-Scanning and iBorderCTRL–The Human Rights Impacts of Technological Experiments in Migration
...the coercive circumstances masquerade as efficiency and better service delivery. Fortifying the Border Autonomous technologies are increasingly used in securing border spaces. FRONTEX, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, has been testing unpiloted military-grade drones in the Mediterranean for the surveillance and interdiction of migrant vessels hoping to reach European shores to file asylum applications. These technologies can have drastic results. While ‘smart-border’ technologies have been called a more ‘humane’ alternative to the Trump Administration’s physical wall, using new surveillance technologies along the US-Mexico border have more than tripled...04 Jun Weekday News Wrap: Monday, June 4, 2012
Perhaps as a good primer to our upcoming book discussion this week, a few drone-related news items: Despite Pakistan’s requests to the US to stop the program, the third drone strike in Pakistan in as many days has taken its toll on new victims; irrespective of the method of civilian or combatant counting, there are at least 27 dead. The Washington Post points out that drone strikes in Yemen raise legal questions. Canada has come out in support of the US’ use of drones. The UN Committee on Torture has...06 Feb Are President Obama’s Assassinations of U.S. Citizens Constitutional?
...law. Under international law, the main question is whether there is legal authority to kill or assassinate anyone, much less one’s own nationals. But even under international law, as readers of Ken Anderson’s posts here and at Volokh know, it is still not all that clear. Indeed, there seems a more than plausible argument that certain kinds of assassinations, as currently executed by the Predator drones, could indeed constitute a violation of the law of war. In any event, if the U.S. is going to pursue this policy, it should...20 May Battlefield Robotics, a Very Brief Introduction
...aircraft. But again, given that the machine’s weapons are operated in real time by a human being, the ethical and legal questions are not so many (there are some, but I will skip over them). Here is a US Air Force photo of a Predator: A third layer carries robotics from air drones to the ground. The US military in 2007 deployed for the first time a remote operated ground vehicle with a weapon mounted on top to Iraq for field testing. (It has also been withdrawn again for further...30 May Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, May 30, 2012
...count of genocide by murder and one count of crimes against humanity by murder. The UN is going to release a warning about the Flame computer virus. Lawfare offers more insight about the virus, as does Foreign Policy. And with more context of viruses, generally, Homeland Security Watch urges everyone to stop calling all cyber somethings “cyber attacks.” After yesterday’s New York Times story about Obama and targeted killings pointed out by our own Deborah Pearlstein, Foreign Policy mapped where the drones are. Talks are underway in Addis Ababa to...