Submission of Written Evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry into the Use of Armed Drones: Drone Strikes, Legal Reasoning and the Need for Transparency



Mair, MD ORCID: 0000-0003-0929-5426, Holder, Alex and Minor, Elizabeth
(2017) Submission of Written Evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry into the Use of Armed Drones: Drone Strikes, Legal Reasoning and the Need for Transparency. .

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Abstract

As researchers involved in studying the specific ways in which drone strikes are conducted in real-time, in this submission we suggest there are two areas where the APPG might conclude much greater information is needed on the use of armed drones. First, more information is needed on the role that legal considerations actually play in decisions around targeting in the context of drone strikes. Legal frameworks do not interpret themselves and it is important, therefore, to investigate how they are being interpreted as part of the work of conducting drone operations. Second, in order to properly understand how legal frameworks are being interpreted during missions, much more information is needed on the operational context than is currently publicly available. In the case of the UK’s drone operations, there is a great deal that simply is not known. Greater disclosure in both of the above areas – i.e., in relation to interpretations of legality in combat situations and the wider operational context such interpretations are undertaken within – would enhance accountability and transparency around those operations and begin to address concerns around the secrecy and erosion of democratic oversight that have been raised with respect to them. At a minimum, this would require the release of all data relating to at least a sample of successful and unsuccessful strikes including audio, video, imagery, digital communications and available intelligence alongside much more extensive information about the operational infrastructures including legal governance arrangements that those drone strikes were enabled by. If the UK’s drone programme is to become more publicly accountable, we believe these are areas the Inquiry should treat as priorities.

Item Type: Other
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 19 Jun 2018 06:16
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 01:31
Open Access URL: http://appgdrones.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/0...
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3022767