The issue of drone attacks by the US/Nato forces inside Pakistan's soil has been raised effectively at the Human Rights Council with different stakeholders expressing concerns on the matter.
According to a press release received here from Geneva, High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay had expressed concern over drone attacks in her opening statement at the 20th session that followed similar response from other stakeholders at the Council.
Christof Heyns, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, addressed the question in his interactive dialogue during the Council session. A number of states and non-governmental organisations like Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union also flagged their concerns in their statements.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) along with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) organised an event Thursday on the sidelines of the 20th session of the Human Rights Council on "Human Rights Implications of the US Targeted Killing Programme."
The Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions and the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, were invited to speak at the event which was also addressed by representatives of the ACLU and the ICJ. The panellists contested the legal justifications provided by the US Government in support of the programme and expressed the view that it was in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.
The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism said that in response to requests by a large number of countries he would examine the legal and human rights implications of the targeted killings programme in his future work.
In the questions and answers session, Ambassador Zamir Akram, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN, restated Pakistan's position that drone attacks were a violation of international law and of Pakistan's sovereignty and were counterproductive. He said that the Parliament of Pakistan had called for an immediate end to these attacks.
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