|
USA must be held to account for drone killings in Pakistan
an article by Amnesty International
Video: US drones: Will I be next?
New evidence indicates that the USA has carried out
unlawful killings in Pakistan through drone attacks,
some of which could even amount to war crimes,
Amnesty International said in a major new report
released today [October 22].
scene from video (above)
click on photo to enlarge
The report, “’Will I be next?’ US drone strikes in
Pakistan”, is one of the most comprehensive studies
to date of the US drone program from a human rights
perspective.
It documents recent killings in Pakistan’s
northwestern tribal areas and the almost complete
absence of transparency around the US drone program.
“Secrecy surrounding the drones program gives the
US administration a license to kill beyond the
reach of the courts or basic standards of
international law. It’s time for the USA to come
clean about the drones program and hold those
responsible for these violations to account,” said
Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International’s Pakistan
Researcher.
“What hope for redress can there be for victims of
drone attacks and their families when the USA won’t
even acknowledge its responsibility for particular
strikes?”
The report was released in a joint news conference
with Human Rights Watch, which issued its own report
on drone and other air strikes in Yemen.
Amnesty International reviewed all 45 known drone
strikes that took place in North Waziristan in
northwestern Pakistan between January 2012 and
August 2013. The region that has seen more strikes
than any other part of the country.
The organization conducted detailed field research
into nine of these strikes, with the report
documenting killings, which raise serious questions
about violations of international law that could
amount to war crimes or extrajudicial executions.
In October 2012, 68-year-old grandmother Mamana Bibi
was killed in a double strike, apparently by a
Hellfire missile, as she picked vegetables in the
family’s fields while surrounded by a handful of her
grandchildren.
In July 2012, 18 laborers, including a 14-year-old
boy, were killed in multiple strikes on a
impoverished village close to the border with
Afghanistan as they were about to enjoy an evening
meal at the end of a long day of work.
Contrary to official claims that those killed were
“terrorists”, Amnesty International’s research
indicates that the victims of these attacks were
not involved in fighting and posed no threat to
life.
“We cannot find any justification for these
killings. There are genuine threats to the USA and
its allies in the region, and drone strikes may be
lawful in some circumstances. But it is hard to
believe that a group of labourers, or an elderly
woman surrounded by her grandchildren, were
endangering anyone at all, let alone posing an
imminent threat to the United States,” said Qadri.
International law prohibits arbitrary killing and
limits the lawful use of intentional lethal force
to exceptional situations. In armed conflict, only
combatants and people directly participating in
hostilities may be directly targeted. Outside
armed conflict, intentional lethal force is lawful
only when strictly unavoidable to protect against
an imminent threat to life . In some circumstances
arbitrary killing can amount to a war crime or
extrajudicial execution, which are crimes under
international law.
(This article is continued in the discussionboard)
|
|
DISCUSSION
There is no question yet associated with this article.
* * * * *
LATEST READER COMMENT:
(The following is continued from the main article listed above.)
Amnesty International also documented cases of so-called “rescuer attacks” in which those who ran to the aid of the victims of an initial drone strike were themselves targeted in a rapid follow-on attack. While there may have been a presumption that the rescuers were members of the group being targeted, it is difficult to see how such distinctions could be made in the immediate and chaotic aftermath of a missile strike.
The USA continues to rely on a “global war” doctrine to attempt to justify a borderless war with al-Qa’ida, the Taliban and those perceived to be their allies.
The USA’s promise to increase transparency around drone strikes, underscored by a major policy speech by President Barack Obama in May 2013, has yet to become a reality, and the USA still refuses to divulge even basic factual and legal information.
This secrecy has enabled the USA to act with impunity and block victims from receiving justice or compensation. As far as Amnesty International is aware, no US official has ever been held to account for unlawful killings by drones in Pakistan.
In addition to the threat of US drone strikes, people in North Waziristan are frequently caught between attacks by armed groups and Pakistan’s armed forces. The local population lives under constant fear of inescapable violence by all sides.
The US drone program has added to local suffering, with people in the region now also living in terror of death from US drones hovering in the skies day and night.
“The tragedy is that drone aircraft deployed by the USA over Pakistan now instill the same kind of fear in the people of the tribal areas that was once associated only with al-Qa’ida and the Taliban,” said Qadri.
As the report documents, local men and women have little control over the presence of groups like the Taliban and al-Qa’ida in their villages and districts.
Al-Qa’ida-linked groups have killed dozens of local villagers they accused of being spies for US drone strikes. Residents of Mir Ali told Amnesty International that bodies are routinely seen dumped by the side of streets with written messages warning that anyone accused of spying for the USA will meet the same fate.
Residents also told Amnesty International they could not report abuses by armed groups to local authorities for fear of retaliation. Many residents were also fearful of talking about drones strikes to Amnesty International. Some of those who did speak openly received threats afterwards.
While the Pakistan government maintains it opposes the US drone program, Amnesty International is concerned that some officials and institutions in Pakistan and in other countries including Australia, Germany and the UK may be assisting the USA to carry out drone strikes that constitute human rights violations.
“Pakistan must provide access to justice and other remedies for victims of drone strikes. The authorities of Pakistan, Australia, Germany and the UK must also investigate all officials and institutions suspected of involvement in US drone strikes or other abuses in the tribal areas that may constitute human rights violations,” said Qadri.
“The Pakistani authorities must disclose information on all US drone strikes they have documented and what measures they have taken or will take to assist victims of these strikes.”
The report also documents the failure of the Pakistan state to protect the human rights of people in North Waziristan. . ...more.
|
|