Europe’s Deadly Silence on Armed Drones

Following a EU Parliament resolution criticizing the US’ secretive drone programme, EFAD coordinator Wim Zwijnenburg wrote an op-ed on the Europe’s ‘deadly silence on armed drones’. With looming conflict-theaters on the horizon, it is of paramount importance that EU Member States and the European Union speak out on these lethal policies and push back against further attempts to undermine international legal principles and human dignity caused by the drone killing program. As EU member states rush to weaponize unmanned planes, those who monitor ‘collateral damage’ to civilian populations and abuses of international law brought about by extensive use of armed drones ask EU countries, as MEPs recently did, to set up a legal framework and to uphold human rights.

Zwijnenburg further explains how the EU member-states are involved in the development and use of drones, how the US secretive drone programme is undermining human rights, stability and security, and notes the many calls that have been raised within the international community against the misuse of armed drones. You can read the full op-ed at VoxEurop.