Joint civil society statement on US-led drone export initiative

In October 2016 the United States published a political declaration subsequently endorsed by 53 countries, on ‘the Export and Subsequent Use of Armed or Strike-Enabled Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)’. This initiative had a number of problematic aspects, including the weakness and vagueness of the principles it articulated.

Work is now being taken forward by a group of states led by the US to draft more detailed politically binding international standards, building on the declaration. This group may be consulting state representatives on these standards in the margins of this year’s CSP. In this context, a group of civil society organisations have set out in an open statement reproduced below a range of concerns about the limitations of this initiative – given the harm caused by and risks around drone technology – and made a set of recommendations for the process. Download the statement in English and Spanish.