The United Nations says it will launch an investigation into the impact of the US assassination drone strikes that mainly target civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.
The UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, is responsible for the inquiry, which will look into the extent of civilian casualties caused by the airstrikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
In October 2012, Emmerson called for effective investigations into the drone attacks, describing them as ‘war crimes.’
“If the relevant states are not willing to establish effective independent monitoring mechanisms… then it may in the last resort be necessary for the UN to act,” Emmerson said at the time.
The UN official denounced as indefensible Washington’s claim that it can carry out assassination drone operations anywhere in the world because it is deemed to be an ‘international conflict.’
“The global war paradigm has done immense damage to a previously shared international consensus on the legal framework underlying both international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” Emmerson stated.
The investigation, which is the result of a request by several nations, including Pakistan and two permanent members of the UN Security Council, will report to the UN General Assembly this autumn.
According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, more than 3,300 people, many of them women and children, have lost their lives in drone strikes in Pakistan alone since 2004.
On Wednesday, nine people were killed in two separate US drone strikes in Yemen.
Washington claims that it is targeting terrorists, but the drone attacks have mostly led to massive civilian deaths.
The US assassination drone strikes were initiated under former US President George W. Bush, but have escalated under President Barack Obama.
The United Nations has censured the attacks as targeted killings and says they flout international law.
YH/HSN
