UN alert on possible drone attacks in New York?
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - A sign outside the United Nations reads, perhaps half seriously, that it is a “No Drone Zone”– and “launching, landing or operating Unmanned or Remote-Controlled aircraft in this area is prohibited”.
The warning comes even as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – or drones – are the new weapons of war deployed mostly by the US, and more recently Ukraine, Iran and Russia in their 19-month-old conflict. But they are also deployed by UN peacekeeping forces worldwide and by national and international humanitarian organisations.
In a report released last week, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says that for women in Botswana, especially those living in remote communities where medical supplies and blood may not be in stock, giving birth can be life-threatening.
Lorato Mokganya, Chief Health Officer in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, is quoted as saying that when a woman has lost a lot of blood during childbirth and may need to be transferred to a bigger medical facility, she first needs to be stabilised where she is before being driven out of that place. Timely delivery of blood can be lifesaving. “A drone can be sent to deliver the blood so that the patient is stabilised.”
Drone technology appears to be taking off at the United Nations, with unmanned aerial vehicles being used for various purposes, including in humanitarian, development and peacekeeping operations. Although this technology is not a magic solution, “the promise of drones is really tremendous,” says Christopher Fabian, principal advisor on innovation at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
For UNICEF and other humanitarian and development agencies, he said, drone technology can make a big difference. Still, drones are now being increasingly used – not for humanitarian purposes – but in war zones in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and most recently Ukraine. The US has launched drone strikes in Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan targeting mostly terrorist groups. But the negative fallout has included the deaths of scores of civilians and non-combatants. More recently, the use of drones by both Russia and Ukraine has triggered a raging battle at the United Nations while Iran has launched drone attacks inside Iraq. The US, France, the UK and Germany have urged the UN to investigate whether the Russian drones originated in Iran. But Russia has denied the charge and insisted the drones were homemade.
Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, urged Secretary-General António Guterres and his staff on October 25 not to engage in any “illegitimate investigation” of drones used in Ukraine.
After a drone attack by Ukraine on a Russian ship in the Black Sea port of Sevastapol in the occupied territory of Crimea, Russia retaliated by pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative triggering a possible shortage of grain and wheat worldwide.
According to a report in the New York Times on October 20, the US’s $17 billion in arms supplies to Ukraine include about 400 tactical unmanned aerial systems called Switchblades, plus 120 Phoenix Ghost Drones. But it has refused to supply the much larger Predator and Reaper drones which are deployed by US military forces worldwide. P W Singer, described as a specialist on 21st-century warfare at the Washington-based New America think tank, was quoted by the Times as saying: Whatever their origins, the use of drones added a particular element of terror in the battlefield. “There is something about drones – something about the unmanned aspect of it – that drives more controversy, drives more fear.” Nate Evans, Spokesperson of the US Mission at the UN, told reporters on October 19 the US joined Britain and France in calling for an expert briefing in the UN Security Council on recent evidence that Russia illegally procured Iranian UAVs that it is using in its war on Ukraine. “These UAVs were transferred from Iran to Russia in open violation of provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” he said. “We anticipate this will be the first of many conversations at the UN on how to hold Iran and Russia accountable for failing to comply with UN Security Councilimposed obligations.”
As was outlined during the meeting, there was ample evidence that Russia is using Iranian-made UAVs in cruel and deliberate attacks against the people of Ukraine, including against civilians and critical civilian infrastructure, Evans noted. By procuring these weapons in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, Russia continues to flout international law in its pursuit of a senseless and brutal war against Ukraine, he said. (A war which began on Feb 24, 2022).
Pieter Wezeman, Senior Researcher, Arms Transfers Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said, “if we define a UAV as an aircraft without a human pilot on board, the main producers of military UAVs in the world include the US, China, Israel, Turkey, Italy and Iran, along with South Africa, Austria, Germany, Russia and France”. He pointed out that most of these drones are unarmed and are used for reconnaissance. Armed UAVs are mainly produced by the US, China, Israel, Turkey and Iran. Undoubtedly more countries will follow, he predicted. “But those are of questionable utility. An armed UAV which can attack a target and then return to its base is, in essence, a very small bomber aircraft, while so-called ‘kamikaze’ UAVs that fly into a target and explode are a type of missile.” The fact that Iran produces armed UAVs does not mean that Iran is at the forefront of military technology, he argued. “Whereas Iran, and to a lesser extent Turkey, have for specific economic, technical, military and political reasons chosen to make drones an important part of their arsenals.”
For example, in the US, Europe, Israel, South Korea and Japan, the military considers crewed aircraft and fast-flying missiles as the core of their air power, and those weapons receive by far the bulk of their investments in such air power, said Wezeman.