U.N. Drone Investigator: If Facts Lead to U.S. War Crimes, So Be It
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/01/un-drone-inquiry/
United Nations special rapporteur Ben Emmerson tells Danger Room that accountability for drone strikes is the central purpose of his new inquiry.
U.N. Drone Investigator: If Facts Lead to U.S. War Crimes, So Be It
By Spencer Ackerman
01.29.13 6:30 AM
Ben Emmerson wants to be clear: Hes not out to ban flying killer robots used by the CIA or the U.S. military. But the 49-year-old British lawyer is about to become the bane of the drones existence, thanks to the United Nations inquiry he launched last week into their deadly operations.
Emmerson, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights and counterterrorism, will spend the next five months doing something the Obama administration has thoroughly resisted: unearthing the dirty secrets of a global counterterrorism campaign that largely relies on rapidly proliferating drone technology. Announced on Thursday in London, its the first international inquiry into the drone program, and one that carries the imprimatur of the world body. By the next session of the United Nations in the fall, Emmerson hopes to provide the General Assembly with an report on 25 drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Palestine where civilian deaths are credibly alleged.
That carries the possibility of a reckoning with the human damage left by drones, the first such witnessing by the international community. Accountability, Emmerson tells Danger Room in a Monday phone interview, is the central purpose of the report. Hes not shying away from the possibility of digging up evidence of war crimes, should the facts point in that direction. But despite the Obama administrations secrecy about the drone strikes to date, hes optimistic that the worlds foremost users of lethal drone tech will cooperate with him.
In conversation, Emmerson, whos served as special rapporteur since 2011, doesnt sound like a drone opponent or a drone skeptic. He sounds more like a drone realist. Lets face it, theyre here to stay, he says, shortly after pausing to charge his cellphone during a trip to New York to prep for his inquiry. This technology, as I say, is a reality. It is cheap, both in economic terms and in the risk to the lives of the service personnel who are from the sending state.