Legality of US Drone Strikes

: The fundamental principles of international law are the apex legal definitions that sit at the very top of the legal theory. Professor Alain Pellet has highlighted the distinction between the fundamental principles of international law and the general principles of international law.1Pellett (2000) states that the general principles are reflected in the municipal laws as various subsets of international law principles such as adherence to the universal human rights as part of the municipal legislation for human rights. The ‘fundamental' nature is derived from international treaties that are the underline body giving it the credence as the apex body of law. These fundamental principles of international law are, for example, the principle of equality and sovereignty of nations, the principle of the prohibition on the use of force, the principle of the threat to the use of force, the principle of human dignity etc. The United States (US) has been using Drones to target persons deemed a threat to the US interests outside the territorial United States. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) run drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Syria and other countries are authorized by the US municipal law. The US Congress authorized the strikes in 2001 pursuant to Resolution 23 in the 107th Sitting of the US Congress. International community, as well as Interntional legal scholars, have raised concerns over the ‘extra-judicial' nature of these killings as a violation of International Law (IL). This paper presents a birds-eye view of the nature of these drone strikes under the IL concerning right to life.