UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings: Record AfPak Drone Attacks Under Obama May Violate International Law

Investigative reporter Jane Mayer of The New Yorker magazine revealed last week that the number of US drone strikes in Pakistan has risen dramatically under President Obama. During his first nine-and-a-half months in office, Obama authorized at least 41 CIA missile strikes in Pakistan–a rate of approximately one bombing a week. That’s as many drone attacks as President Bush sanctioned in his final three years in office. The attacks have killed between 326 and 538 people, Mayer says. She writes: “there is no longer any doubt that targeted killing has become official US policy.”

One of the most high-profile critics of the US drone program has been the United Nations human rights envoy, Philip Alston. On Tuesday, Alston said the US government"s use of Predator drones may violate international law. Alston is the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. He raised the issue in a report to the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee on Tuesday and said the US should explain the legal basis for using unmanned drones for targeted killings. Alston also presented a critical report on the drone program in June to the U.N. Human Rights Council, but, he says, US representatives ignored his concerns.

Philip Alston joins me now in the firehouse studio. He is also a professor of law at New York University and co-Chair of the law school’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. Welcome to Democracy Now.

Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. He is also a professor of law at New York University and co-Chair of the law school’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.