Editing, re-reporting, commentary by Carolyn Bennett
The work of the United Nations in reining in U.S. impunity,
the check on Washington’s callous recklessness, its disregard for life is
welcome indeed.
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| United Nations |
The inquiry into extrajudicial killings, the ordering and deployment
of assassination drones is long past due and the investigation must be thorough
and effective for the sake of moral order and the rule of law, for the sake of people
all over the world ─ not only, but especially the innocents (in a civilized
world, people are presumed innocent until proved guilty through judicial
process) and civilians of all ages and kinds.
Leader of killer drone inquiry
Ben Emmerson QC
UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights
Leading the United Nations investigation of drones is international
lawyer Ben Emmerson QC who specializes in cases involving human rights, international humanitarian law, criminal law, and public
law.
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| Nonviolence symbol UN |
A profile of Emmerson says he has conducted more than 30
cases as an advocate appearing before the European Court of Human Rights,
acting both for and against the government of the United Kingdom and other
Council of Europe Member States. He has
been particularly recognized for his work in developing the law governing the
protection of the right to life in Article 2 and the state’s duty to prevent
torture and inhuman and degrading treatment under Article 3.
While he has a particular reputation in the application of
international standards to criminal law and procedure, Emmerson has extensive
experience in all aspects of ECHR litigation and has acted in cases covering a
wide range of international law
issues including diplomatic and state immunity, parliamentary privilege,
judicial independence, and discipline within the armed forces.
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mmerson is currently the British judge on the Residual
Mechanism of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He has previously acted as Special Adviser to
the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court and Special Adviser to the
international judges of the UN backed Khymer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia.
In June 2011, he was
elected by the UN Human Rights Council as UN Special Rapporteur on Counter
Terrorism and Human Rights. In this capacity he reports annually to the UN
General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council and relevant entities established
by the Security Council. He also conducts country visits and reports, and
provides technical and other advice to States.
Killer drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or UAVs)
Echoes of U.S. nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
U.S. President Harry Truman calculated
that the atomic bomb “might be used to defeat Japan in a way less costly of
U.S. lives than a conventional invasion of the Japanese homeland” so in 1945 he
laid waste to hundreds of thousands of innocent people in a distant land.
The combined heat and blast of the
U.S. atomic bomb (the United States is the only nation that has used the nuclear
bomb against human beings) on Hiroshima
on August 6, 1945, pulverized everything in the explosion’s immediate vicinity,
generated spontaneous fires that wiped out, burned completely, almost 4.4
square miles, killed between 70,000 and 80,000 people, and injured more than
70,000 others. A second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki
on August 9, 1945, killed between 35,000 and 40,000 people, injured a like
number, and devastated 1.8 square miles. (Britannica
note]
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ifty-one countries possess the technology to use drones but the United States “is responsible
for the vast majority of the world’s drone strikes and the practice of targeted
killing has become a central component” of the government of U.S.
President Barack Obama in its “efforts to combat al-Qaida.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human
Rights announced yesterday that he will lead an inquiry that examines the
impact of drone strikes on civilian populations in five countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, the Palestinian
territories and Somalia.
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| Pakistanis protest U.S drone strikes |
Ben Emmerson QC told the Guardian that the aim of this inquiry
is to “shine the light of truth on competing allegations that there are
disproportionate civilian casualties on the one hand and that there are few or
no civilian casualties on the other.” The critical deficit in the current UN
debate concerning the legality of drone strikes, he said, “is the absence of
independent, objective verification of the facts.”
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| Pakistanis protest U.S drone strikes |
Between June 2004 and September
2012, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports, drone strikes killed
between 2,562 and 3,325 people in Pakistan
of whom between 474 and 881 were civilians
─ including 176 children.
In Pakistan alone, BIJ updated, CIA
drone strikes have resulted in as many as 3,461 deaths ─ including up to 891
civilians.
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| Yemenis protest U.S. drone strikes |
The American Civil Liberties Union
and the Center for Constitutional Rights have filed a lawsuit against the Obama
administration over the deaths of three American
citizens killed by U.S. drones in Yemen.
Several nations, including Pakistan
and two permanent members of the UN Security Council, called for an inquiry
into the use of drones.
Though the UN General
Assembly is comprised of 193 member nations, there are only five permanent
member states on the UN Security Council: People’s Republic of China, France,
Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States
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| Drone missiles |
n statements prior to the coming investigation, Judge Emmerson
has suggested that some drone attacks – particularly those known as ‘double tap’ strikes where rescuers
going to the aid of a first blast have become victims of a follow-up strike –
could possibly constitute a ‘war crime.’
Critics have charged that the Obama administration’s
targeted killing program is “utterly lacking in transparency and
accountability.”
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| UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights Ben Emmerson |
The UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human
Rights told the Guardian that one of the fundamental questions to be raised in the
drone investigation “is whether aerial targeting using drones is an appropriate
method of conflict … where the individuals are embedded in a local community.
‘Whether, given the local
demography, aerial attacks carry too high a risk of a disproportionate number
of civilian casualties.’
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| Drone |
Whether ‘the military dependence on
UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) carries an unacceptably high risk of civilian
casualties’
Twenty or thirty strikes – selected
as representative of different types of attacks – will be studied to assess the
extent of any civilian casualties, the identity of militants targeted, and the
legality of strikes in countries where the UN has not formally recognized there
is a conflict.
Involved in the inquiry into the impact of drone strikes on
civilian populations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, the Palestinian
territories and Somalia together with Emmerson’s coordination through his UN
office in Geneva will be a team of experts including, according to the Guardian,
“the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald QC, a former
prosecutor at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, and Dr Nat Cary, one of the UK’s most experienced
pathologists who specializes in the interpretation of injuries caused by
explosions.”
The inquiry will report this coming fall to the UN General Assembly
in New York City. Depending on its findings, the report might recommend further
action.
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he problem as I see it is that those who retain power in Washington
─ the nepotistic, the entrenched, the partisans, the tribal ─ are wedded to a single way, a single model of response.
They are incapable of evolving to a
degree sufficient to forego the baser instinct of barbarism and in its stead
embrace a diplomacy of nonviolence as equals in relations among human beings.
Therefore, these mostly but not only men throwbacks to the dark ages, these
obstructionists ─ regardless to their pedigree or position ─ must be reined in,
called to account by judicial process.
Only then has the world a chance to move
in concert, to progress as equals for the good of all.
Sources and notes
Ben Emmerson QC (profile), http://www.matrixlaw.co.uk/Members/49/Ben%20Emmerson.aspx
“UN to examine UK and U.S. drone strikes ─ Strikes will be
studied to assess extent of any civilian casualties, identity of militants
targeted and legality of actions” (Owen Bowcott, legal affairs correspondent, guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday January 23, 2013 19.37 EST ), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/24/un-examine-uk-afghanistan-drone-strikes?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
“UN inquiry into US drone strikes prompts cautious optimism ─
Critics of Obama's targeted killing
program argue it is lacking in transparency but welcome inquiry examining
drones’ impact” (Ryan Devereaux, guardian.co.uk, Thursday January 24, 2013
17.14 EST),
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/24/un-announces-drone-inquiry-human-rights
QC
Queen’s (or Kings’) Counsel (in some jurisdictions the name
has been replaced by one without monarchical connotations such as ‘Senior
Counsel’ or ‘Senior Advocate’) is a status conferred by the Crown, which is recognized
by courts. Members have the privilege of sitting within the Bar of court. Appointments
to be one of Her [or His] Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law are made from
within the legal profession on the basis of merit rather than a particular
level of experience but successful applicants tend to be barristers, or (in
Scotland) advocates, or solicitor advocates with 15 or more years’ experience.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)
Deutsche Welle reported January 20, 2013: The unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAV, or drone) industry is the fastest growing aeronautics
industry. Currently 50 countries use drones, three of them for military
strikes.
UN Security Council Membership 2012
Colombia (2012)
Germany (2012)
India (2012)
Portugal (2012)
South Africa (2012)
Azerbaijan (2013)
Guatemala (2013)
Morocco (2013)
Pakistan (2013)
Togo (2013)
Colombia (2012)
Germany (2012)
India (2012)
Portugal (2012)
South Africa (2012)
Azerbaijan (2013)
Guatemala (2013)
Morocco (2013)
Pakistan (2013)
Togo (2013)
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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