The Rise of the Humanitarian Drone: Giving Content to an Emerging Concept

Abstract

This article explores and attempts to define the emerging concept of the humanitarian drone by critically examining actual and anticipated transfers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, from the global battlespace to the humanitarian emergency zone. Focusing on the relationship between the diffusion of new technology and institutional power, we explore the humanitarian drone as a ‘war dividend’ arising from the transfer of surveillance UAVs, cargo-carrying UAVs and weaponised UAVs. We then reflect on the ways in which military practices and rationales guiding drone deployment may also shape humanitarian use, giving particular attention to the concept of surgical precision, the implications of targeting logic, and the ambiguous role of distance. Next, we consider the broader implications for humanitarian action, including the promise of global justice and improved aid delivery. Finally, we analyse the most difficult aspect of the humanitarian drone: namely, its political currency as a ‘humanitarian weapon’ in conflict scenarios.

Drones for justice: inclusive technology and river-related action research along the Kapuas

“…Introducing drones in counter-mapping activities can end up repeating mistakes and ambiguities associated with previous counter-mapping movements (Bryan, 2011). So far, advances in civilian drone technology have been made in the context of humanitarian crisis intervention (Sandvik and Lohne, 2014) and in environmental surveillance (Watts et al, 2010), which is usually NGO-led spatial control, albeit in the interests of biodiversity conservation. So, for example, Koh and Wich (2012) pursue an exclusively technical discussion of the use of drones to monitor land use changes and neglect entirely questions of environmental justice and who is able to use this technology and to what end.…”

Bringing Law into the Political Sociology of Humanitarianism

“…On the material and spatial practices of aid, and the constitution of 'recipients' and 'aid workers' , international political sociology has contributed to unpack the 'rape-stove panacea' 36 or examined personal protective equipment in the context of the Ebola outbreak. 37 Attention has been given to the humanitarian concern with shrinking space, 38 more recently also with a focus on the role of technology and knowledge politics in constituting a humanitarian cyberspace 39 and with respect to the increasing use of biometrics. 40 From this disciplinary and thematic stocktaking follows two observations.…”

Computer Generated Works and Copyright: Selfies, Traps, Robots, AI and Machine Learning

“…19 All of these are operated directly by an individual person. It is partly due to this that the ownership of domestic personal drones and profession drones are increasingly subject to regulation and even obligatory licensing.…”