On August 5th, 2009, two Hellfire missiles fired from an American Predator drone exploded in northwest Pakistan, killing a high-ranking Taliban leader, an accomplishment celebrated globally. The controversial aspect of UAVs, however, is the 530 additional civilian lives that were lost in the process. France supports the United Nations’ promotion of UAV’s and proposes the following three steps to utilize them to mollify the staggering effects of war: establishment of universal parameters, incentives and individualization.

Transparency in regards to numbers of armed and surveillance drones is vital because of the general security associated with understanding the resources of other countries. We propose the establishment of a committee charged with regulating the numbers of armed and surveillance drones in relation to circumstance, to be assessed on an individual basis.

Because of the precision with which drones have the capacity to strike, it is widely accepted that drone strikes significantly reduce civilian death toll. In light of these studies, we venture to call the use of drones a step forward for humanitarian efforts and France proposes incentivizing drone integration into military organizations through humanitarian resources and social support provided by developed countries including France.

Due to the highly contrasting circumstances of each military situation, we stress the importance of distinguishing surveillance versus armed drones. As France recognizes individual rights to an extreme degree, we understand that surveillance drones are often seen as threats to privacy but given the improvements in the death toll, we feel that the value of lives outweigh these marginal hypothetical violations.

France will continue to spearhead this compromise but ultimately supports the UN’s promotion of UAV’s with its plan to establish global parameters, incentivize and individualize situations.