A/HRC/28/38 I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to its resolution 25/22, the Human Rights Council held an interactive panel discussion of experts on “ensuring use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones in counterterrorism and military operations in accordance with international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law” on 22 September 2014. The panel discussion examined issues related to the use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones in counterterrorism and military operations in accordance with international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law. It also addressed questions raised in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (A/HRC/25/59). 2. The panel discussion was chaired by the President of the Human Rights Council and moderated by Dapo Akande, Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, Oxford University. The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights gave an opening address. The panellists were Shahzad Akbar, Legal Director of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights; Alex Conte, Director of International Law and Protection Programmes at the International Commission of Jurists; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions and Pardiss Kebriaei, Senior Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. 3. In resolution 25/22, the Council requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a summary of the deliberations of the panel discussion at its twenty-eighth session and the present report is submitted pursuant to that request. II. Opening statement by the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights 4. The Deputy High Commissioner noted that the discussion on the use of remotely piloted aircraft or armed drones in compliance with international law was both very timely and essential, because the development of such technologies was running ahead of our understanding of their human rights implications. The recent emergence of a range of new weapons technologies has raised a number of legal questions, including under international human rights law. She stated that, since its emergence 15 years ago, drone technology had developed remarkably and the use of drones had grown exponentially in the context of military operations and counter-terrorism measures. An increasing number of States were seeking to acquire armed drone technologies and there was concern that non-State actors might possess such technology as well. 5. The Deputy High Commissioner made clear that States had the duty under international law to take measures to protect individuals from terrorist acts, but those measures must be consistent with international human rights law. 6. The Deputy High Commissioner made three main points. The first related to the legal framework applicable to the use of armed drones. She emphasized that international human rights law applied at all times, including in situations of armed conflict. She noted that the human right to life placed stringent conditions on the use of lethal force. In any situation other than active hostilities in an armed conflict, the prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of life implied that the intentional use of lethal force was lawful only when an individual posed an imminent threat to the life of another and where the use of lethal force was strictly unavoidable to protect life. Additionally, such use of lethal force would be lawful only where other, less lethal, measures – including restraint, capture, and the 3