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ALDE Congress passes UK Liberal Democrat motion calling for a halt to drone attacks

December 4, 2013 4:13 PM
By Paul Reynolds in Liberal Democrat Voice
Originally published by East Midlands Liberal Democrats

On 28th, 29th, and 30th Nov, the Annual Congress of European liberal parties in the European Parliament and beyond, (ALDE) met in London. The 'pan-European' liberal manifesto was agreed for the upcoming Euro elections, (no mean feat !), and several other resolutions were passed.

The UK Lib Dems had one motion on the agenda. This was an emergency motion on armed drone attacks, put forward following new on-the-ground data from the UN and others on civilians being killed, and following a European defence meeting which failed to address the illegality of the attacks, instead focusing on the capacity of 'Europe' to build better armed drones. In addition the UN Secretary General had recently indicated that US drone strikes in Pakistan were unlawful.

The wording of the motion is below. It was passed with an overwhelming majority.

The European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party convening in London, UK, 28th to 30th November 2013,

Notes with concern

  • That the Report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism found that out of 2200 fatalities determined by the Pakistani Government to have arisen from 330 known US drone strikes since 2004, at least 600 civilians and 'probable non-combatant' fatalities have been identified. Significant such fatalities have also been reported during investigations of potential civilian deaths from drone strikes in 6 other countries.

  • The UN report criticised the practice of WUAV attacks being targeted, operated and assisted on the ground by civilian intelligence officers or contractors, outside of the parameters placed on state combatants operating within rules of command and relevant international law & customs

  • The October 2013 Amnesty International Report on civilian deaths from WUAV attacks documents individual drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere by the USA, and concludes that attacks are in breach of international law

Notes

  • The 15 October 2013 report by the EU High Representative/EDA on the Common Security and Defence Policy, which proposed that European governments should commit to cooperative projects in WUAVs and the European Defence Agency Steering Board meeting on 19th November 2013 formulating European drones policy for the period 2020-25.

Believes that

  • That international law has yet to catch up with technology in the area of armed drones

  • The current legal justifications for US drones strikes in various parts of the world lack clarity and robustness

  • The lack of robust legal justification for international WUAV attacks could accelerate a WUAV arms race and a race for counter-WUAV measures, thereby increasing the likelihood of armed conflict around the globe

Calls on

  • The EU to take all steps necessary through institutions in the UN system to bring to a halt to unlawful WUAV attacks and promote the development of

- an international WUAV treaty

- the extension of the scope of the Arms Trade Treaty to include unmanned conventional arms

  • The EU to conduct an enquiry into the lawfulness of specific WUAV deployment practices including the use of 'kill lists', 'personality strikes', 'signature strikes', 'double taps' and terrorist attack disruption strikes (TADS), and into published reports of the accuracy problems with such weapons.

* Paul Reynolds is an independent foreign policy & international economics adviser, who has had senior political roles in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, among other countries across the globe.