The United Nations has said that at least 450 civilians may have been killed by US drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, a figure which the US has previously downplayed. A UN report, obtained by Al Jazeera on Friday, stated that Pakistan’s government had confirmed at least 400 civilian deaths as a result of US drone strikes, in stark contrast to what US officials had publicly acknowledged previously. The report found that one of the major obstacles in obtaining accurate figures on civilian deaths was the lack of transparency by the countries involved, which has prompted a cauldron of legal issues that are yet to be addressed by UN-member states. This report aims to present the facts as clearly and objectively as possible. I have had good co-operation from most of the states involved, and I very much hope that this continues during the second phase of the inquiry when I will be aiming to get answers to some of the most difficult questions and putting allegations about particular drone strikes to the states responsible, and asking them to provide their own version of the facts, Ben Emmerson, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism and author of the report, told Al Jazeera. This issue is clearly not going to go away, and I will continue asking the difficult questions for as long as it takes, he added.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 21:50:58 +0000
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