Predator or Protector? Framing the debate on drones

Chris Cole, founder of Drone Wars UK

Chris Cole, founder of Drone Wars UK

11 March 2016

Chris Cole, founder of Drone Wars UK, will be discussing the use of armed drones at a lecture to the David Davies Memorial Institute at Aberystwyth University on Tuesday 15 March.

His lecture, entitled Predator or Protector? Framing the debate on drones takes place at the Main Hall of the Department of International Politics at 5pm and is open to all.

The use of armed drones is rapidly becoming normalised as more and more countries join the drone users club. Yet remote, so-called ‘risk-free’ warfare raises serious legal and ethical concerns about the nature of modern warfare and indeed what we used to call ‘peace time’.

In this presentation Chris Cole will look at the ethical and legal issues that surround the growing use of armed drones, recent developments, and the battle to frame the debate on drones.

Drone Wars UK is a small British NGO to undertake research, education and campaigning on the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the wider issue of remote warfare. It is now recognised internationally as a credible and reliable source of information on drones and unmanned technology.

Chris Cole is the co-author of Convenient Killing: Armed Drones and the Playstation Mentality (2010), convenor of the Drones Campaign Network and regularly speaks to conferences, public meetings and the media on drones, targeted killing and remote warfare.

He is a former Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and co-ordinator of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and has been imprisoned a number of times for undertaking nonviolent direct action against war and war preparations.

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