Air Bridge Denial Program and the Shootdown of Civil Aircraft Under International Law

摘要

In August 2003, the United States resumed the sharing of real-time intelligence with Columbia, information that will be used by Columbia to shoot down aircraft engaged in drug trafficking. A similar program with Peru may restart soon, Such operations are part of the Air Bridge Denial Program (ABDP), a program that has been operating since the early l990s designed to cut off the flow of drug out of the Andean Region of South America. This thesis examines the history of the ABDP and the norms applicable to shootdown operations under the UN Charter, customary international law, the Chicago Convention, and human rights law to determine the specific limitations of the prohibition. International law generally prohibits the shootdown of international civil aircraft, and the nature of the shootdown operations can also have human rights implications. This thesis then examines the circumstances under which international law would excuse an otherwise unlawful shootdown of a civil aircraft. Self-defense, the law of armed conflict and distress are ruled out as likely candidates for use in the legal justification of the shootdown of drug aircraft. The best defense for the conduct of ABDP shootdowns is the defense of necessity as it exists under customary international law. The potential harm to the essential interests of States threatened by drug trafficking combined with the unique nature of the drug trade in the Andean Region is the ideal situation for the invocation of necessity and provides the most sound international legal justification for the conduct of shootdown operations in this context.