Barnidge: A Qualified Defense of American Drone Attacks in Northwest Pakistan Under International Humanitarian Law

Robert P. Barnidge, Jr. (Univ. of Reading - Law) has posted A Qualified Defense of American Drone Attacks in Northwest Pakistan Under International Humanitarian Law (Boston University International Law Journal, forthcoming). Here’s the abstract:

This paper examines the lawfulness under international humanitarian law of one of the most important and controversial aspects of the Obama Administration‟s approach to fighting terrorism, the use of drone attacks in northwest Pakistan. It begins by exploring developments in drone technology and locates this discussion within the context of the American drone campaign in northwest Pakistan. Since arriving at the legal frame of reference for assessing each of these attacks under international humanitarian law requires determining whether an armed conflict paradigm applies and, if so, how the armed conflict at issue should be classified, this paper then turns to exploring these issues from the perspective of law. It then examines three persistent issues that have arisen in the context of the American drone campaign in northwest Pakistan: the question of collateral damage, with particular reference to the drone attack that killed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Baitullah Mehsud in August 2009, the concern of the 2010 Report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, Philip Alston, that “[i]t is not possible for the international community to verify the legality of a killing, to confirm the authenticity or otherwise of intelligence relied upon, or to ensure that unlawful targeted killings do not result in impunity,” and the legal implications of Central Intelligence Agency involvement in drone attacks. Ultimately, this paper concludes that American drone attacks in northwest Pakistan are not as such unlawful under international humanitarian law, though, like any method and means of warfare in the context of asymmetric warfare, they should be continuously and closely monitored according to the dictates of law and sensitivity to the facts on the ground.