Counter-terrorism and human rights - United Nations Secretary-General at SOAS University of London

António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, gave a lecture titled "Counter-terrorism and human rights: winning the fight while upholding our values" at SOAS University of London on 16 November 2017 followed by a conversation with the audience.

The talk was hosted and moderated by the Director of SOAS, Baroness Valerie Amos CH, and formed the second in series of three major public talks by the Secretary-General – the first of which took place at New York University earlier this year in May.

[kyriswong]

may i ask what happened to the stream ..?

[josephjohnson]

In two of the six drone strikes it investigated in Yemen, Human Rights Watch reported the killing of “civilians indiscriminately in clear violation of the laws of war; the others may have targeted people who were not legitimate military objectives or caused disproportionate civilian deaths.” In a surprising development, Amnesty brought a powerful, historically resonant term to bear, claiming that some of the cases of civilian drone deaths it investigated in Pakistan might constitute “war crimes“ for which those responsible should stand trial. (“Amnesty International has serious concerns that this attack violated the prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of life and may constitute war crimes or extrajudicial executions.”)

And just arriving, reports from the U.N. special rapporteur on drones, Ben Emmerson, and its special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Christof Heyns. It’s already clear that these will not please the White House, where the usual denials and self-justifications — however lame they may increasingly sound outside the United States — still rule the day. (“U.S. counterterrorism operations are precise, they are lawful, and they are effective.”) After a recent visit to Pakistan, Emmerson said, “The consequence of drone strikes has been to radicalize an entirely new generation.” A former high-level U.S. State Department official in Yemen claims that each U.S. drone strike in that country creates “40 to 60 new enemies of America.” Emmerson and Heyns are now demanding far greater “transparency” from a secretive Washington on the subject of its drone killings.