Where do the operators of unmanned aerial vehicles fit within increasingly blurred understanding of what it means to be a ‘heroic’ soldier?

This article challenges the notion that ‘restoring the primacy of the law of armed conflict’ would remove scrutiny over the actions of military personnel on the battlefield, and critiques the particular approach the UK has taken to investigating violations, including its heavy reliance on criminal law.

The fight against Salafi-jihadist terrorism in the 21st century has been characterised by a reliance on aerial warfare. Drone strikes and precision-guided missiles have been launched in their thousands, targeting terror cells in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. And aerial warfare has been presented, and praised, as the most efficient, precise and discriminate […]

Professor Leigh is one of Britain’s leading investigative journalists, and winner of the 2007 Paul Foot Award for Campaigning Journalism. David was Assistant Editor at The Guardian, with special responsibility for investigations. He also worked in London at the Observer, where he ran an investigation team, and at The Times. He has won seven press […]

Andrew Smith is a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade. Here Matt Kennard of AOAV interviews Andrew about his work on the arms trade. Firstly, could you introduce yourself and explain a bit about what you do at CAAT. I’m Andrew Smith, I work for Campaign Against Arms Trade; an organisation that is trying to […]

Andrew Feinstein was elected an ANC MP in South Africa in 1994. He resigned in 2001 in protest at the government’s refusal to allow an unfettered investigation into a £5bn arms deal. He chairs the Aids charity Friends of the Treatment Action Campaign, and is a director of the anti-corruption organisation Corruption Watch. He is […]

Over the past year, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) has been investigating the UK arms trade. The UK government states that ‘the UK is one of the world’s largest exporters of arms’, but it is a trade often hidden in the shadows. So, when Prime Minister Theresa May spoke at the annual World Economic Forum at […]

Yesterday, an American man was convicted for killing unarmed civilians whilst on patrol in Iraq. But he wasn’t a member of the US Army. When the incident took place, he was working for the company Blackwater. Last month, the Taliban carried out a lethal suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. But the compound they targeted wasn’t […]

Bahrain: Country overview Bahrain is located on the Arabian Peninsula, bordering up to neighbouring Saudi Arabia and has a total population of 1,6 million. Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy, ruled by Sunni King Sheikh Hamad bin Essa al-Khalifa, who is seated in the capital of Manama. The majority of the country is, however, Shia Muslims. Bahrain signed […]

Barely a day goes by without a headline of a suicide attack claiming civilian lives. So powerful are these strikes – ranking the most lethal of all explosive weapons in the last six years globally – that suicide bombings have developed a certain strategic appeal for many of the most notorious of today’s global terrorist […]

As of September 2018, the United States would have been deploying lethal drones to strike ‘senior militant targets’ for seventeen years, ever since the September 11th, 2001 attacks. Seventeen years in which the data reveals that many casualties from these attacks have been civilians. Of course, accurate figures are hard to come by – fog […]

In September 2017, London hosted the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair, the biggest in the world. Delegations of military officials and politicians from across the globe descended on the ExCel Centre in London’s Docklands to play pick ‘n mix with the world’s most deadly technology. We were granted a press pass to […]