CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

BIRUTĖ PRANEVIČIENĖ – VIOLETA VASILIAUSKIENĖ CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ an armed organized terrorist group exists, and only against those persons who are taking an active and ongoing part in an armed conflict on behalf of the armed group, considering that the conflict in question does conform to the requirements of organisation and intensity. In the fight against terrorism and terrorists, in particular the U.S. practice of using drones against terrorists, the principle of distinction that is essential in IHL. This presents difficulties in the sense that it is not easy to distinguish which persons are legal targets in an armed conflict. It is legal to target members of another warring party, i.e. combatants, but in the non-international armed conflict the members of an organised armed group do not have equal status to the members of an international armed conflict. Therefore, the concept of “continuous combat function” is used to outline the members of the organized armed group who participate actively in combat actions on behalf of the armed group and thus become legal targets for attack. But the question remains as to the accuracy of the information received and used to select targets for UAV strikes. Other aspects that are important in evaluating the practice of the use of UAVs are the questions regarding the practice of double strike, which violates the principle of protection of the victims and the rescuers of persons who have suffered in the attack. Furthermore, constant flying over an area causes anxiety and uncertainty feelings in the population and this infringes the principle of prohibition of unnecessary harm in armed conflicts.

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