Matthew Pomy at 2:42 PM ET
Sunday, June 9, 2013
UN counterterrorism expert urges greater clarity in US policies
UN counterterrorism expert urges greater clarity in US policies
Matthew Pomy at 2:42 PM ET
[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism [official website] Ben Emmerson on Friday urged [press release] the Obama administration [official website] to provide more clarity on its counterterrorism policies. While Emmerson's office recently released a statement
[text] strongly in favor of the new policies laid out in a speech by US
President Barack Obama, this statement reiterates the need for more
clarity and specificity in the administration's policies. Specifically,
Emmerson is calling for more information surrounding the drone policies
be released into the public domain. The statement comes after Emmerson
finished a fact-finding mission in the administration where Emmerson met
with lawyers at the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the
Department of Justice, the Office of the Director of National
Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency and the President's
National Security Staff.
The statement comes in reference to a speech
[JURIST report] Obama gave in May. The Obama administration's
counterterrorism projects have been highly criticized. In April Pakistan
declared US drone strikes are illegal [JURIST report] and directed Pakistan's Foreign Ministry
[official website] to introduce a resolution against such attacks in
the UN. Also in April JURIST Guest Columnist David Frakt of the
University of Pittsburgh School of Law argued that the Obama
administration should release those detainees
[JURIST op-ed] held at Guantanamo Bay who have already been declared to
not be a danger to the US. Also last month UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] called for US authorities to close down the Guantanamo prison camp
[JURIST report], emphasizing the continued indefinite incarcerations of
many detainees as a clear violation of international law.
Matthew Pomy at 2:42 PM ET
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