U.N. Panel to Investigate Rise in Drone Strikes. UN to investigate civilian deaths from US drone strikes. The United Nations is to set up a dedicated investigations unit in Geneva early next year to examine the legality of drone attacks in cases where civilians are killed in so-called "targeted" counter-terrorism operations.
The announcement was made by Ben Emmerson QC, a UN special rapporteur, in a speech to Harvard law school in which he condemned secret rendition and waterboarding as crimes under international law. His forthright comments, directed at both US presidential candidates, will be seen as an explicit challenge to the prevailing US ideology of the global war on terror. Earlier this summer, Emmerson, who monitors counter-terrorism for the UN, called for effective investigations into drone attacks. Some US drone strikes in Pakistan may amount to war crimes, Emmerson warned. Obama or Romney: What it means for a Pakistani living under drones. Drones such as this U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator have reportedly killed more than 3300 people over the last nine years. Obama and Romney both say they will continue the CIA-run drone programAccording to one report, the program has killed more than 3300 people in nine yearsThe attacks are breeding resentment against America, says Akbar Editor's note: Mirza Shahzad Akbar is Reprieve legal fellow in Pakistan, director and founder of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, and a practicing human rights lawyer in Islamabad.
He represents a number of families of victims affected by drone strikes. Islamabad (CNN) -- On Tuesday, the United States votes to elect its next president. Covert Drone War.