London: Amnesty International, a Human Rights group, on Wednesday heavily criticised the United States (US) for using drone strikes inside Pakistan and Abbottabad operation, which killed al-Qaida Chief Osama Bin Laden, and said that such actions were unlawful.
In its 50th annual report, the US has been criticised by the right group for using lethal force in the killing of Osama bin Laden in a commando raid.
“The US administration made clear that the operation had been conducted under the USA’s theory of a global armed conflict between the USA and Al-Qaeda in which the USA does not recognize the applicability of international human rights law,” Amnesty said.
“In the absence of further clarification from the US authorities, the killing of Osama bin Laden would appear to have been unlawful.”
The report raises serious concerns regarding US drone strikes inside Pakistani territory, which killed several innocent civilians including some low rank militants.
Amnesty said that a request for clarification over an apparent US drone strike in Yemen last September that killed US-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, his Al-Qaeda co-conspirator Samir Khan and at least two others had also gone unanswered.
The report also raises concern about missing persons and Pakistan’s government failure to safeguard the rights of minorities.
“Out of several missing persons across Pakistan, only 220 of them were recovered,” the report said.
The report also said that almost nine journalists were killed during 2011 within the country while a number of people were killed in fighting between the rival political groups in Karachi.
The rights groups say the security council is increasingly “unfit for purpose”, and is failing to match the courage of protesters around the world.
The rights group called for the signing of a strong treaty on the global arms trade when the United Nations meets in July, saying it would be a test for world leaders to place rights over profits.
Amnesty highlighted the failure to end the bloodshed in Syria and said repeated vetoes by major arms exporters Russia and China had left the UN’s top security body “looking redundant as a guardian of global peace”.
The report also singled out emerging powers India, Brazil and South Africa, saying they were “complicit through their silence” on key rights issues.
In its annual report, Amnesty said the vocal support by many global powers in the early months of the Arab Spring in 2011 had not translated into action, with many international leaders now looking the other way.
It has also criticised Canada for failing to arrest former US president George W. Bush during a visit in October, “despite clear evidence that he was responsible for crimes under international law, including torture.”
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