Sunday, August 19, 2012

US assassination drones strikes violate international law, UN charter: Analyst

A political analyst has slammed the use of deadly drones by the United States, questioning the legality of such attacks that have claimed the lives of scores of civilians in Pakistan, Press TV reports.

“…it [the use of assassination drones] is a violation of the [UN] charter and the provisions of the charter which prohibit nation states attacking each other in this sort of violence … it’s a violation of the Geneva conventions and protocols which very specifically preclude the killing of civilians,” former UN assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday said in an interview with Press TV on Sunday.

He further described the US drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas as “total violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan by the United States.”

The comments came while according to reports US assassination drone strikes have left at least 21 people dead in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region near border with Afghanistan during the past 48 hours.

Despite Pakistani government’s repeated calls on Washington to end the drone attacks, the US government continues its strikes on the tribal regions of the country.

Washington claims its drone strikes target militants, although casualty figures clearly indicate that Pakistani civilians are the main victims of the assaults.

The UN has also slammed the American terror drone attacks as targeted killing and says they pose a challenge to international law.

Referring to the UN condemnation of the strikes, the analyst added that “it seems that the United States has absolutely no respect for the United Nations and its charter and its membership or international law.”

He further called on the American people to take action against Washington’s warmongering policies in order to change the government which is committed to “aggression” and “ jingoistic patriotism.” More