The government needs to clarify its legal case for the use of lethal drones outside armed conflict, MPs and Peers have said in a report into the targeted RAF drone strike in Syria of suspected terrorist and UK national Reyaad Khan in August 2015. The government stated that the strike was part of the same armed conflict in which the UK was already involved in Syria.
In a report published this week, The Government’s policy on the use of drones for targeted killing, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) accept the government’s justification. However, it states government policy allows lethal force to be used abroad, outside of armed conflict, when there is no other way of preventing an imminent terrorist attack against the UK. It concludes that the legal basis of this policy, and also any support for lethal force by other countries, requires urgent clarification.
The report proposes giving the Intelligence and Security Committee a more prominent role in oversight. It urges the government to develop international consensus about the legal use of lethal force in counterterrorism operations.
