At the UN General Assembly First Committee, in October 2017, Human Rights Now, along with over 40 civil society organisations from 17 countries, signed a joint statement on armed drones.
The statement alerts on the violations of human rights and humanitarian law by the use of drone air strikes. Drones are used by States to expand explosive weapons and use them outside of armed conflicts. Those operations with questionable legal bases are conducted in secrecy.
Current efforts to set international standards are not focused enough on humanitarian issues and compliance with international law. The process needs to be inclusive of the affected communities and human rights actors.
The proliferation of drones calls for urgent international actions to set standards that apply to new users as well as current possessors and producers and reject any unacceptable practice.
The joint statement is available here