The Rise of the Humanitarian Drone: Giving Content to an Emerging Concept

Millennium: Journal of International Studies

Volumn 43, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 145-164

  Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora ^a   Lohne, Kjersti ^b  

^a Centre for the Study of Civil War   (Norway)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OSLO   (Norway)

Author keywords

drones; human rights; humanitarianism; R2P; surveillance; technology; UAV

Indexed keywords

EID: 84904439415     PISSN: 03058298     EISSN: 14779021     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0305829814529470     Document Type: Article

References (119)

1. Will Houstoun, 'Managing Natural Disasters, Protecting Endangered Species, And Enhancing Our Knowledge: Proof That Drones Can Do Good', tankthoughts.com, 19 Nov. 2013.
2. The issue has been taken up by Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
3. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict
4. Philip Alston and Christof Heyns, consecutive UN Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions;
5. Ben Emmerson, the UN Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights. Three NGO reports have been enormously influential;
6. Stanford Law School Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic and NYU School of Law Global Justice Clinic, 'Living under Drones: Death, Injury, and Trauma to Civilians from US Drone Practices in Pakistan' (2012)
7. Center for Civilians in Conflict and Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, 'The Civilian Impact of Drones: Unexamined Costs, Unanswered Questions' (2012)
8. Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School Human Rights Clinic, 'Loosing Humanity: The Case against Killer Robots' (2012).
9. Development Initiatives, 'Defining Humanitarian Assistance', in Global Humanitarian Assistance: A Development Initiative (2014).
10. See, for example, Fiona Terry, Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action (Ithaca, NY, and London: Cornell University Press, 2002)
11. David Rieff, A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003)
12. David Kennedy, Dark Side of Virtue: Reassessing International Humanitarianism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004)
13. Antonio Donini, ed., The Golden Fleece: Manipulation and Independence in Humanitarian Action (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
14. In a letter to President Obama, Human Rights Watch argues that 'while the United States is a party to armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq and could become a party to armed conflicts elsewhere, the notion that the entire world is automatically by extension a battleground in which the laws of war are applicable is contrary to international law. How does the administration define the “global battlefield” and what is the legal basis for that definition? What, if any, limits exist on ordering targeted killings within it? Does it view the battlefield as global in a literal sense?', Human Rights Watch, 'Letter to Obama on Targeted Killings and Drones' (2010).
15. Derek Gregory, 'The Everywhere War', Geographical Journal 177, no. 3 (2011).
16. James Ferguson, Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006), 41.
17. Michael N. Barnett, 'Humanitarian Governance', Annual Review of Political Science 16 (2013)
18. Didier Fassin, Humanitarian Reason: A Moral History of the Present (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011).
19. D.P. Forsythe, 'International Humanitarianism in the Contemporary World: Forms and Issues', in Multilateralism under Challenge: Power, International Order, and Structural Change, eds E. Newman, R. Thakur and J. Triman (Tokyo: UN University Press, 2006), 234.
20. IFRC, 'World Disasters Report 2013, Technology and Humanitarianism' (2013).
21. Geoffrey L. Herrera, 'Technology and International Systems', Millennium: Journal of International Studies 32, no. 3 (2003), 559-93
22. Stefan Fritsch, 'Technology and Global Affairs', International Studies Perspectives 12, no. 1 (2011), 27-45
23. Daniel R. McCarthy, 'Technology and “the International” or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Determinism', Millennium: Journal of International Studies 41, no. 3 (2013)
24. Wiebe Eco Bijker and John Law, Shaping Technology/ Building Society: Studies in Socio-technical Change (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992).
25. D. MacKenzie and J. Wajcman, The Social Shaping of Technology (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999).
26. Herrera, 'Technology and International Systems'.
27. Bijker and Law, Shaping Technology/Building Society.
28. McCarthy, 'Technology and “the International” or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Determinism'.
29. Giovanni Dosi, 'Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories: A Suggested Interpretation of the Determinants and Directions of Technical Change', Research Policy 11, no. 3 (1982)
30. Herrera, 'Technology and International Systems'
31. Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010).
32. P.W. Singer, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Penguin Press, 2009)
33. James Der Derian, Virtuous War: Mapping the Military- Industrial-Media-Entertainment Network (New York: Routledge, 2009)
34. Dave Grossman, On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2009[1995])
35. Tyler Wall and Torin Monahan, 'Surveillance and Violence from Afar: The Politics of Drones and Liminal Security-Scapes', Theoretical Criminology 15 (2011)
36. Derek Gregory, 'From a View to a Kill: Drones and Late Modern War', Theory, Culture & Society 28, no. 7-8 (2011)
37. Gregory, 'The Everywhere War'
38. Caroline Holmqvist, 'Undoing War: War Ontologies and the Materiality of Drone Warfare', Millennium: Journal of International Studies 41, no. 3 (2013).
39. 'UAVs Hauling Cargo into the Future', StrategyPage, 27 Oct. 2012.
40. Stephen Graham, Cities under Siege: The New Military Urbanism (London: Verso Books, 2011), xvii. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for alerting us to this point.
41. Abigail R. Hall and Christopher J. Coyne, 'The Political Economy of Drones', Defence and Peace Economics. Published online 20 Aug. 2013.
42. W.J. Hennigan, 'Drone Expo in Las Vegas Sets Sights on Civilian Market', Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2012. In an uncharitable view of this transfer, Jack C. Chow points to the brutal logic of economic expediency: in the wake of the US military exit from Iraq and Afghanistan, the military now has an 'entire squadron of attack drones, already built and paid for', sitting idle in storage.
43. Jack C. Chow, 'Predators for Peace', Foreign Policy, 7 May 2012.
44. Richard Tekneci, 'Defense Companies Need to Diversify to Weather Sequestration', Forbes, 14 March 2013.
45. For example, the manufacturer Faun Trackway USA markets a portable landing mat for UAVs, which 'can be used to build temporary airfields in less than 24 hours for military operations or delivering emergency aid in the aftermath of humanitarian disasters'. 'Australia Buys Portable UAV Landing Mat', UAV News, 13 Jan. 2012.
46. Matthew Harwood, 'Drone Stakeholders Stress Robots' Humanitarian Upside', Security Management, 8 November 2011.
47. Ryan Gallagher, 'Surveillance Drone Industry Plans PR Effort to Counter Negative Image', Guardian, 2 February 2012.
48. See http://increasinghumanpotential.org.
49. Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, 'The Risks of Technological Innovation', in IFRC, World Disasters Report 2013, Technology and Humanitarianism (2013).
50. Technology Quarterly, 'The Dronefather', The Economist, 1 Dec. 2012.
51. Catherine Gegout, 'EU Conflict Management in Africa: The Limits of an International Actor', Ethnopolitics 8, nos. 3-4 (2009).
52. Giovanna Bono, 'The EU's Military Operation in Chad and the Central African Republic: An Operation to Save Lives?', Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 5, no. 1 (2011).
53. United Nations (2013) S/2013/44, 22 January 2013.
54. John Karlsrud and Frederik Rosén, 'In the Eye of the Beholder? UN and the Use of Drones to Protect Civilians', Stability: International Journal of Security and Development 2, no. 2 (2013).
55. http://digitalhumanitarians.com/ and http://crisismappers.net/ for examples.
56. Libby Clark, 'Openrelief Launches Open Source Disaster Relief Drone', The Linux Foundation, 7 June 2012.
57. StrategyPage, 'UAVs Hauling Cargo into the Future', StrategyPage, 27 Oct. 2012.
58. Arie Egozi, 'Elbit to Supply “Flying Elephant” Cargo UAs', FlightGlobal, 16 May 2011
59. James Holloway, 'Us Navy Developing App-Summoned Robotic Helicopters for Marines', Gizmag, 12 Jan. 2012.
60. 'Heli-Expo 2011: Unmanned K-Max Deploying to Afghanistan this Summer', AINonline, 7 March 2011.
61. http://www.aermatica.com/SURVEILLANCE.html.
62. http://matternet.us/
63. Alexandra Gibb, 'Drones in the Field', OpenCanada.org, 10 Dec. 2012.
64. Chow, 'Predators for Peace'.
65. CBS News, 'Obama OKs Use of Armed Drone Aircraft in Libya', 24 April 2011.
66. Alex Spillius, 'Britain “Flew Drones over Libya”', The Telegraph, 26 July 2012.
67. Der Derian, Virtuous War, xxxi (original emphasis).
68. P.W. Singer, 'Robot Ethics Won't Clean up Combat', Bostonglobe.com, 5 February 2012.
69. Meg Braun, 'Columbia Drone Report Misses the Target', Foreign Policy, 18 December 2012.
70. Gregory, 'From a View to a Kill', 7-8.
71. Nick Turse, 'The Crash and Burn Future of Robot Warfare', Huffington Post, 16 January 2012
72. AllGov, 'U.S. Drone Killing Program Threatened by Disconnect between Contractors and Military', 2012.
73. Karlsrud and Rosén, 'In the Eye of the Beholder?'.
74. Wall and Monahan, 'Surveillance and Violence from Afar', 240.
75. Lane DeNicola, 'Credibility and the Use of Geospatial Media in Activism and Advocacy', Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 45, no. 1 (2008): 4. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for alerting us to this reference.
76. Gregory, 'From a View to a Kill', 190-3.
77. Holmqvist, 'Undoing War', 548.
78. Grossman, On Killing.
79. Gregory, 'From a View to a Kill', 198.
80. Scott Lindlaw, 'UAV Operators Suffer War Stress', AirForceTimes, 7 Aug. 2008.
81. Gregory, 'From a View to a Kill', 193.
82. A 2011 Pentagon study suggested a 30 per cent rate of post-traumatic stress disorder among drone pilots. The study also indicated that the stress is caused, in part, by the requirement that pilots linger over the scene after strikes are carried out; this requirement is in contrast to the assignments of traditional fighter pilots.
83. Rachel Martin, 'Report: High Levels of “Burnout” in U.S. Drone Pilots', NPR, 19 December 2011.
84. Turner et al. (2009), in Gregory, 'From a View to a Kill', 200.
85. Grossman, On Killing.
86. Daniel Brunstetter and Megan Braun, 'The Implications of Drones on the Just War Tradition', Ethics and International Affairs 25, no. 3 (2011): 349.
87. Abby Stoddard, Adele Harmer and Jean S. Renouf, 'Once Removed: Lessons and Challenges in Remote Management of Humanitarian Operations for Insecure Areas', Humanitarian Outcomes (2010).
88. Chow, 'Predators for Peace'.
89. Micah Zenko and Rebecca R. Friedman, 'UN Early Warning for Preventing Conflict', Council on Foreign Relations, February 2011.
90. Matthew Lee, 'Clinton Says She Hopes Drones Help Find Kony', Philly.com, 5 Aug. 2012.
91. A.W. Dorn, Keeping Watch: Monitoring, Technology and Innovation in UN Peace Operations (Tokyo: UN University Press, 2011), 2.
92. Chow, 'Predators for Peace'.
93. Michal Givoni, 'Beyond the Humanitarian/Political Divide: Witnessing and the Making of Humanitarian Ethics', Journal of Human Rights 10, no. 1 (2011): 58.
94. Richard Ashby Wilson and Richard D. Brown, Humanitarianism and Suffering: The Mobilization of Empathy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 2-3.
95. Sandvik, 'The Risks of Technological Innovation'.
96. Ryan Calo, 'Robots and Privacy', in Patrick Lin, Keith Abney and George A. Bekey, Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011), 190.
97. Sam Gregory, 'Cameras Everywhere: Ubiquitous Video Documentation of Human Rights, New Forms of Video Advocacy, and Considerations of Safety, Security, Dignity and Consent', Journal of Human Rights Practice 2, no. 2 (2010): 191.
98. Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Mark Hanis, 'Drones for Human Rights', New York Times, 30 January 2012.
99. Mark Kersten to Justice in Conflict 2012, http://justiceinconflict.org/2012/02/02/ drones-for-human-rights-are-drones-the-answer/.
100. Darryl Li, 'Some Bad Ideas Can't Be Shot Down', New York Times Examiner, 1 February 2012.
101. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for alerting us to the ramifications of various uses.
102. Frank Sauer and Niklas Schörnig, 'Killer Drones: The “Silver Bullet” of Democratic Warfare?', Security Dialogue 43, no. 4 (2012)
103. Anna Geis, Harald Müller and Niklas Schörnig, The Militant Face of Democracy: Liberal Forces for Good (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
104. Geis, Müller and Schörnig, The Militant Face of Democracy.
105. Joshua Faust, 'A Liberal Case for Drones', Foreign Policy, 14 May 2013.
106. Sauer and Schörnig, 'Killer Drones', 370;
107. M. Shaw, The New Western Way of War: Risk-Transfer War and Its Crisis in Iraq (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005).
108. Kenneth Anderson, 'Targeted Killing in US Counterterrorism Strategy and Law', available at SSRN 1415070 (2009), 13.
109. Brunstetter and Braun, 'The Implications of Drones on the Just War Tradition', 346.
110. Miroslav Nincic and Donna Nincic, 'Humanitarian Intervention and Paradoxes of Moral Authority: Lessons from the Balkans', International Journal of Human Rights 8, no. 1 (2004).
111. Alex J. Bellamy, Just Wars: From Cicero to Iraq (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006).
112. Outcome Document of the 2005 United Nations World Summit (A/RES/60/1, para. 138-140).
113. Alex J. Bellamy, 'The Responsibility to Protect: Five Years On', Ethics & International Affairs 24, no. 2 (2010).
114. Brunstetter and Braun, 'The Implications of Drones on the Just War Tradition', 339.
115. Alex J. Bellamy, 'The Responsibility to Protect: Added Value or Hot Air?', Cooperation and Conflict 48, no. 3 (2013).
116. Karlsrud and Rosén, 'In the Eye of the Beholder?', 7.
117. Sarah Kreps and John Kaag, 'The Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Contemporary Conflict: A Legal and Ethical Analysis', Polity 44, no. 2 (2012).
118. John Kaag and Whitley Kaufman, 'Military Frameworks: Technological Know-How and the Legitimization of Warfare', Cambridge Review of International Affairs 22, no. 4 (2009).
119. Similarly, Sauer and Schörnig (2012) argue that, in the long run, democracies will not only be burdened with the costs of an arms race but will also be rendered more prone to engage in war than non-democracies.