A.HRC.14.24.Add6.pdf

Targeted Killings have emerged as a distinctly defined method of combat, specifically and explicitly designed for eliminating terrorists. Rather than fighting this emerging method to address the issue of transnational terrorism, a resistance movement has emerged that focuses on the outdated laws governing State sanctioned killings, which does not contribute to the process of addressing transnational terrorism as a problem that needs to be solved. This focus on outdated existing law convolutes the process, and forces States to either conceal their counterterror activities, or violate international law in order to combat terrorism. This is counterproductive to the advancement of civil society.

The entire paradigm of warfare has changed so dramatically with the emergence of globalized terrorism and massive technological advancements, that new methods of combat require new laws and definitions to govern modern warfare. Instead of trying to interpret existing laws in order to apply them to transnational terrorism, a new legal framework should be established, specifically to address terrorism, in addition to the laws that exist. The international community should design a new terror-centric framework, providing the entire international community with explicit authority to target and kill any person proven to be associated in any way with terrorism, or with an identifiable terrorist organization, such as the Islamic State, the Haqqani Network, Boko Haram, or Al Qaeda. Part of the legal framework for cooperative international counterterrorism operations already exists, according to this UN Human Rights Council Study on Targeted Killings, which establishes that violating the territory of a sovereign Nation, in order to conduct a targeted killing, is justified and legal, as long as the Nation whose sovereignty is being violated is “unwilling or unable” to stop the terrorism or terrorists themselves.