US drone attacks “ breach international law”
Source: Hizbollah Site Staff, 28-10-2009
A UN human rights investigator has warned the United States that its use of unmanned aerial drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan may breach humanitarian law.
The UN rights investigator said the United States has done nothing to prove that it\'s not indiscriminately killing civilians in violation of international law through the use of drones.
"My concern is that these drones - these predators - are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law," UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston told a press conference on Tuesday.
"The responsibility is on the government of the United States to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren\'t in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," the top official stressed.
The UN investigator also condemned Washington for refusing to reply to UN concerns concerning the use of drone aircrafts in the troubled South Asian region.
"We need the United States to be more up front... otherwise you have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international laws," Alston stressed.
According to independent reports, since August 2008 alone, around 70 cross-border predator strikes carried out by American drones have resulted in the deaths of 687 Pakistani civilians.
He says he has become increasingly concerned about the dramatic increase in such attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan over recent months.
Mr Alston also says the US attitude that the killings are not a matter for the UN General Assembly "is simply untenable".
On Tuesday, US democratic Senator John Kerry said drone attacks will continue in Pakistan\'s Waziristan tribal region, despite rising public outrage.
A UN human rights investigator has warned the United States that its use of unmanned aerial drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan may breach humanitarian law.
The UN rights investigator said the United States has done nothing to prove that it\'s not indiscriminately killing civilians in violation of international law through the use of drones.
"My concern is that these drones - these predators - are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law," UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston told a press conference on Tuesday.
"The responsibility is on the government of the United States to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren\'t in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," the top official stressed.
The UN investigator also condemned Washington for refusing to reply to UN concerns concerning the use of drone aircrafts in the troubled South Asian region.
"We need the United States to be more up front... otherwise you have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international laws," Alston stressed.
According to independent reports, since August 2008 alone, around 70 cross-border predator strikes carried out by American drones have resulted in the deaths of 687 Pakistani civilians.
He says he has become increasingly concerned about the dramatic increase in such attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan over recent months.
Mr Alston also says the US attitude that the killings are not a matter for the UN General Assembly "is simply untenable".
On Tuesday, US democratic Senator John Kerry said drone attacks will continue in Pakistan\'s Waziristan tribal region, despite rising public outrage.
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