UN Human Rights Chief Questions Legality Of US Drone Strikes

Navi Pillay, the United Nations human rights chief, has criticized the U.S. government’s policy of conducting unmanned drone strikes on the tribal borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

While the U.S. and NATO assert that such counter-terror strikes are necessary to root out militants who have been launching attacks on western troops in Afghanistan, Pillay says such measures raise serious legal issues.

Drone attacks do raise serious questions about compliance with international law, in particular the principle of distinction and proportionality, she said.

U.S. defense secretary Leon Panetta declared that such strikes will continue, in the wake of an attack that reportedly killed al-Qaeda’s number two man Abu Yahya al-Libi, earlier this week.