{"id":852,"date":"2013-11-11T12:45:39","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T03:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/?p=852"},"modified":"2023-10-25T09:49:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T00:49:15","slug":"drone-strikes-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/news\/2013\/11\/11\/drone-strikes-statement\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Now urges immediate action to disclose investigation results of drone strikes and to establish international standards that regulate the use of drones in accordance with international human rights law and humanitarian law"},"content":{"rendered":"

HRN Statement on Drone Strikes<\/a> (PDF)<\/p>\n

1 In September 2013, Mr. Ben Emmerson, who is the Special Rapporteur of Promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism at the United Nations Human Rights Council,submitted an interim report on the investigation on the use of remotely piloted aircraft in counter-terrorism between 10 January and 8 August 2013 (A\/68\/389). In the same month, Mr. Christof Heyns, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also focused on the use of drones and the right to life and submitted a report based on his investigation of the problems regarding international human rights and international humanitarian law (A\/68\/382). Human Rights Now expresses its concern on the drone attacks which have high possibility of violating international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and it welcomes the reports of Mr Emmerson and Mr Heyns.<\/p>\n

2 The report of Mr. Emmerson reveals the actual conditions under which the use of drones has expanded continuously and the number of civilians that have become victims of drone strikes since 1999 when drones were first introduced into combat.<\/p>\n

According to Mr. Emmerson\u2019s report, the number of recorded drone strikes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan since 2004 reaches up to 330, based on statistics from the Pakistani government. The report also finds that, out of 2200 victims of the drone strikes, 400 were civilians and 200 were probably non-combatants. In Afghanistan, the United States Air Force conducted 294 strikes in 2011 and 447 by November 2012. British forces are also considered to have conducted 405 drone strikes by July 2013.<\/p>\n

According to a report of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan\u00a0(UNAMA), drone strikes caused 16 deaths and 5 injuries in 2012 and 15 deaths and 7 injuries in the\u00a0first half of 2013 among civilians.\u00a0According to the report of Mr. Emmerson, the Unites States Air Force conducted 29\u00a0drone strikes by the end of 2011 in Yemen, as well as 48 confirmed strikes it conducted in Iraq\u00a0between 2008 and 2011.\u00a0In Libya, it is reported that NATO has conducted drone strikes 145 times.\u00a0Although the United States and the United Kingdom have reported that there were\u00a0civilian casualties owing to the drone strikes, the result of investigations on the number of casualties\u00a0in detail and actual causes of such incidents have not been clarified.\u00a0Drones are remotely controlled in an operation base which is located away from the battle\u00a0field, and they discharge weapons against targets based on a command from the base. However, it\u00a0results in the use of force in territories of other countries, and the violation of sovereignty is considered\u00a0to be a problem. The Pakistani government has made their position clear, that they do not allow\u00a0drone strikes and request a cessation of the use of remotely piloted aircraft; however, the extensive strikes by drones continue.
\nInternational humanitarian law (the Geneva Conventions) prohibits attacks against\u00a0non-combatants (civilians, medical personnel, etc.) as well as private properties, and purposeful\u00a0attacks against civilians are considered as a war crime.<\/p>\n

A growing number of civilian victims by drone strikes and the lack of accountability by\u00a0the operators exposes the principles of the protection of civilians based on international human rights\u00a0law and international humanitarian law at risk.<\/p>\n

The report of Mr Heyns strongly indicates the possibility of a violation of international\u00a0human rights law guaranteeing the right to life if there is a loss of civilian life as a result of air\u00a0strikes in other countries. Also, it emphasizes the problems caused by drone strikes regarding the\u00a0distinction between combatants and non combatants as well as proportionality in conflicts in light of\u00a0requests under international humanitarian law. Strikes by remotely piloted aircraft are easily abused and have high potential to cause\u00a0illegal murders of innocent civilians. Drone strikes can fall into a state of lawlessness unless rules\u00a0and regulations of their use are clearly agreed on among the international community.<\/p>\n

3 The United States released the \u201cU.S. Policy Standards and Procedures for the Use of Force in\u00a0Counterterrorism Operations Outside the United States and Areas of Active Hostilities\u201d in May 2013.1\u00a0The document requires that the United States should respect the sovereignty of other\u00a0countries and international law, and fulfill the following criteria in using Lethal Force:<\/p>\n

1. Near certainty that the terrorist target is present;
\n2. Near certainty that non-combatants will not be injured or killed;2
\n3. An assessment that capture is not feasible at the time of the operation;
\n4. An assessment that the relevant governmental authorities in the country where action is\u00a0contemplated cannot or will not effectively address the threat to U.S. persons; and
\n5. An assessment that no other reasonable alternatives exist to effectively address the threat to U.S.
\npersons.<\/p>\n

However, these standards are much easier to meet than the fundamental requirements of\u00a0international humanitarian law such as the distinction between combatants and civilians,\u00a0proportionality and prevention. They do not meet the strict demands of international humanitarian\u00a0law.<\/p>\n

Moreover, although the United States alleges that it respects these procedures, there are\u00a0serious discrepancies between its allegations and the damage which has been actually reported.\u00a0Unless the United States reveals information on all cases which caused civilian casualties by drone strikes, it cannot be said that the United States respects international law in using drone\u00a0strikes during counter terrorism operations. Incidents of drone strikes which have caused civilian\u00a0victims may include serious cases that constitute war crimes. The United States and the United\u00a0Kingdom should conduct investigations on civilian casualties, including the possibility of war crimes,and achieve accountability.<\/p>\n

***********************
\n1 Fact Sheet: U.S. Policy Standards and Procedures for the Use of Force in Counter-terrorism Operations Outside the United States and Areas of Active Hostilities
\nhttp:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2013\/05\/23\/fact-sheet-us-policy-standards-and-procedures-use-force-counterterrorism<\/p>\n

2 The United States defines non-combatant as an individual who is not a combatant in armed conflicts,\u00a0does not participate in hostilities directly and also \u201can individual who is targetable in the exercise of\u00a0national self-defence.\u201d This definition is very vague. <\/p>\n

3 Human Rights Now calls on the governments of the United States and the United\u00a0Kingdom
\n– to conduct comprehensive and highly transparent investigations on civilian victims by drone strikes\u00a0until now, investigate the rules of targeting, the procedures of attacks, the command structure of\u00a0operations, the causes of civilian casualties and the possibility of war crimes, and disclose the results\u00a0to international society.
\n– to pursue justice and secure accountability in the case that a violation of international humanitarian\u00a0law is acknowledged. In that case, liability of commandants should not be shirked either.
\n– to provide the families of killed civilians adequate reparations.
\n– to fully and immediately stop drone strikes without consent of the host states.\u00a0And it calls on the United Nations
\n– in consideration of civilian casualties by the drone strikes, to adopt a resolution which calls for the\u00a0establishment of international standards in accordance with international human rights law and\u00a0humanitarian law, transparent investigations by the states that use drones, and reparations for\u00a0victims.
\n– to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council and immediately establish\u00a0international standards that regulate the use of drones in accordance with international human rights\u00a0law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HRN Statement on Drone Strikes (PDF) 1 In September 2013, Mr. Ben Emmerson, who is the Special Rapporteur of Promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism at the United Nations Human Rights Council,submitted an interim report on the investigation on the use of remotely piloted aircraft in counter-terrorism between 10 January and 8 August 2013 (A\/68\/389). In the same month, Mr. Christof Heyns, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also focused on the use of drones and the right to life and submitted a report based on his investigation of the problems regarding international human rights and international humanitarian law (A\/68\/382). Human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[141,157,138,132,15,17],"countries":[256,249,243,236],"class_list":["post-852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-statement","tag-accountability","tag-accountability-for-gross-human-rights-violations","tag-armed-conflict","tag-extrajudicial-killings-war-crime-and-crimes","tag-extrajudicial-killings-war-crime-and-crimes-against-humanity","tag-human-rights-violation-under-armed-conflictsmilitary-operation","countries-afghanistan","countries-iraq","countries-pakistan","countries-usa"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1333,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions\/1333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}