On Wednesday, August 12, at 10 am PT, the Pacific Council will host a webinar examining the rapid proliferation of armed drone technology in urban conflict environments, with a focused look at the ongoing security crisis in Haiti. As explosive quadcopter drones become a fixture of 21st-century urban warfare, Port-au-Prince has emerged as an unlikely laboratory for some of the most consequential questions in international security today: How should states balance tactical effectiveness against civilian protection? What regulatory frameworks, if any, govern the deployment of lethal autonomous and semi-autonomous systems in densely populated neighborhoods? And what role do private military contractors play when operating at the edges of international law?

Since March 2025, Haitian security forces and private contractors have conducted over 140 drone operations targeting gang-controlled neighborhoods across Port-au-Prince. Operating under a government task force with support from U.S.-licensed private military firm Vectus Global, these strikes have produced significant casualties while raising profound questions about accountability, transparency, and the future of security assistance in fragile states. Attendees will hear from Diego Da Rin, a Haiti Analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Why it's important:

• Human Rights Watch documented at least 1,243 people killed and 738 injured across 141 drone strike operations between March 2025 and January 2026, including at least 17 children and 43 adults with no apparent ties to criminal groups. The UN Integrated Office in Haiti has attributed the campaign to a specialized government task force operated with support from Vectus Global, a private military company whose export of defense services to Haiti was licensed by the U.S. State Department. 
• Amnesty International has warned that the use of armed drones in densely populated urban areas sets an alarming precedent, placing civilian populations at direct risk and raising the specter of probable extrajudicial executions.
• The tactical advantages of drone strikes, including reduced risk to state personnel and enhanced surveillance capacity, may come at the cost of long-term strategic stability, particularly given the risk that drone technology could diffuse to nonstate actors such as the very gangs being targeted. Haiti's security crisis offers a cautionary case study in how technological asymmetry in gray-zone conflicts may be difficult to sustain.

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.

Guest Speaker

Diego Da Rin is the Haiti expert at the International Crisis Group. He holds a law and philosophy degree from the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a master's degree in international and European studies from the Institute of Latin American Studies of the Sorbonne Nouvelle University. For over four years, his research at Crisis Group has been dedicated to analyzing Haiti's intersecting crises, with the objective of formulating recommendations for key stakeholders to restore security and foster political stability in the country.