Foreign Policy and International Law

The U.S. State Department recently announced a new policy for exports of military drones (unmanned aerial vehicles).[1] Military drones are today’s most sophisticated tools for aerial surveillance, capable of persistent and distant overflight of any terrain. While not all military drones can fire weapons, armed drones have generated controversy because of their prominent role in targeted killings of foreign and American supporters of terrorist organizations.

Introduction

On April 24, 2014, the Marshall Islands filed individual applications before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the five nuclear weapon states (NWS) parties to the 1968 Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russian Federation, China) and the NWS not parties to the NPT (Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea)[1] claiming a violation of Article VI of the treaty, of its customary international la