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For Immediate Release
June, 13 2013, 11:21am EDT
Contact:
Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org
UN: Drones Have Caused "Permanent Fear" & Affected Wellbeing of Children
The UN Secretary General has described reports of child casualties caused by armed drones as "increasingly worrisome," and called on the states involved to conduct "transparent...and effective investigations."
Ban Ki-moon's latest report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict finds that the use of "armed and surveillance drones has resulted in permanent fear in some communities, affecting the psychosocial wellbeing of children."
WASHINGTON
The UN Secretary General has described reports of child casualties caused by armed drones as "increasingly worrisome," and called on the states involved to conduct "transparent...and effective investigations."
Ban Ki-moon's latest report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict finds that the use of "armed and surveillance drones has resulted in permanent fear in some communities, affecting the psychosocial wellbeing of children."
It also warns that the use of drones has affected access to education, stating that "in some situations, both boys and girls have ceased attending school owing to the fear of drone strikes."
Mr Ban's Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict was published yesterday (12 June), and comes in the wake of President Obama's latest attempts to justify the use of covert drone strikes - carried out in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia by the CIA and US Special Forces - in a speech on 23 May.
The comments on drones appear to represent the strongest yet made by the Secretary General himself.
Commenting, Jennifer Gibson, staff attorney at Reprieve, a human rights charity which supports civilian victims of covert drone strikes said: "This must be a wake-up call for anyone who still believes claims that drones only hurt 'militants.' It demonstrates that the CIA's illegal drone programme is not only a threat to the lives of children, but also to their way of life. Whole communities in North West Pakistan - a country with which the US is not at war - are too afraid to even send their kids to school. Fine words from President Obama are not enough - he must stop these illegal and immoral strikes."
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. For further information, please contact Donald Campbell in Reprieve's press office: +44 (0) 207 553 8166 / donald.campbell@reprieve.org.uk
2. The comments are made on p3, par.11 of the report:
"Over the past years, the United Nations has received an increasingly worrisome number of reports of child casualties in the course of military operations using weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles, or armed drones. I therefore reiterate my call upon relevant States to take all measures necessary to ensure that attacks involving drones comply with the principles of precaution, distinction and proportionality and to conduct transparent, prompt and effective investigations when child casualties may have occurred. In addition, the mixed use of armed and surveillance drones has resulted in permanent fear in some communities, affecting the psychosocial well-being of children and hindering the ability of such communities to protect their children. Reports further indicate that the use of drones has a wider impact on children, especially their access to education. For example, some situations, both boys and girls have ceased attending school owing to the fear of drone strikes."
https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/annual-report-of-the-secretary-g...
3. Reprieve, a legal action charity, uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay. Reprieve investigates, litigates and educates, working on the frontline, to provide legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves. Reprieve promotes the rule of law around the world, securing each person's right to a fair trial and saving lives. Clive Stafford Smith is the founder of Reprieve and has spent 25 years working on behalf of people facing the death penalty in the USA.
Follow Reprieve on twitter: @ReprieveUK; if you were forwarded this release, sign up to join our press mailing list
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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This is a developing story... Please check back for possible updates...
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BREAKING: a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release on bail Rumeysa Ozturk, a Muslim grad student at Tufts University who was abducted and abused by ICE agents, all because she wrote an editorial, yes, an editorial, critical of the Israeli government's genocide.
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— CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) ( @cairnational.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 11:12 AM
"There is no evidence here as to the motivation, absent consideration of the op-ed, so that creates unto itself a very significant substantial claim that the op-ed—that is, the expression of one's opinion as ordinarily protected by the First Amendment—form the basis of this particular detention," the judge continued, adding that Öztürk's "continued detention potentially chills the speech of the millions and millions of people in this country who are not citizens."
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"Unfortunately, it is 45 days too late," Khanbabai lamented. "She has been imprisoned all these days for simply writing an op-ed that called for human rights and dignity for the people in Palestine. When did speaking up against oppression become a crime? When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?"
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"When did speaking up against genocide become something to be imprisoned for?"
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"We do it every day," Rubio said in March in defense of the policy. "Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas."
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Foreign nationals—and some U.S. citizens wrongfully swept up in the Trump administration's mass deportation effort—are imprisoned in facilities including private, for-profit detention centers, where there are widespread reports of poor conditions and alleged abuses.
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"Rümeysa Öztürk has finally been ordered released," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said on social media. "She has been unlawfully detained for more than six weeks in an ICE facility in Louisiana, more than 1,500 miles away from Somerville. This is a victory for Rümeysa, for justice, and for our democracy."
In the United States, we guarantee free speech. No one here will lose their rights and freedom for publishing an op-ed. This is a win for the rule of law. Rümeysa is free!
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— Representative Becca Balint ( @balint.house.gov) May 9, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that "it is unfathomable that in the United States legal system, it takes 45 days for a judge to rule that people can't be put behind bars for writing op-eds the government doesn't like."
"Without a system committed to its principles, the Constitution is just words on paper, and they don't mean much if this can happen here," Stern continued. "Öztürk's abduction and imprisonment is one of the most shameful chapters in First Amendment history."
"We're thankful that Judge Sessions moved it one step closer to an end and we call on the Trump administration to release Öztürk immediately and not attempt to stall with any further authoritarian nonsense," he added.
Amid President Donald Trump's defunding threats and pressure from ICE officials, universities have told "many hundreds" of international students that they have lost their immigration status and must immediately self-deport. These notifications were based on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) termination of students' records on the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a database used by schools and authorities to access visa information.
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In addition to moving to deport pro-Palestine students, the Trump administration is sending Latin American immigrants—including wrongfully expelled Maryland man Kilmar Abrego García—to a notorious prison in El Salvador, and the president has repeatedly threatened to send natural-born U.S. citizens there.
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"Well, the Constitution is clear—and that of course is the supreme law of the land—that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion," Miller told reporters at the White House. No foreign entity has invaded the United States since Japanese forces landed in the Aleutian Islands in the then-territory of Alaska during World War II.
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"Since it appears needs to be said: The authority to suspend habeas corpus lies with Congress, not the president, and is only legal during extreme circumstances of rebellion or invasion," Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott said on Bluesky. "Stephen Miller is full of shit."
It wasn't just Democrats and Palestine defenders who cheered Sessions' ruling Friday. Billy Binion, who covers "all things injustice" for the libertarian website Reason, said on social media that the government's "entire case against her is that... she wrote an op-ed."
"Hard to overstate how bleak—and frankly embarrassing—it is that the Trump administration wants to jail and deport someone for speech," he continued. "In America."
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