Comments
On February 25, 2014, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the use of armed drones, expressing “grave concern over the use of armed drones outside the international legal framework.” Accordingly, it called upon the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Union (EU) Member States and the Council to: ban extrajudicial targeted killings; ensure that States do not perpetrate or facilitate unlawful targeted killings; include armed drones in disarmament and arms control regimes; ban the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons systems; take measures where there are “reasonable grounds for believing that an individual or entity . . . may be connected to an unlawful targeted killing abroad;” and to support the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.
The resolution also urged “the Council to adopt an EU common position on the use of armed drones,” and called upon “the EU to promote greater transparency and accountability on the part of third countries in the use of armed drones.”