The UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on armed drones has issued a statement in response to the Pentagon’s decision of undertaking a major review of civilian deaths during military operations. The Pentagon has taken this decision after years of calls by civil society organisations such as Airwars, which have found much higher number of civilian casualties than the Pentagon does. The APPG reiterated its call for the UK government to reavaluate its methodology of assessing civilian casualties in ‘air-only’ operations as well, stating that..

“Working hard to protect civilians in conflict goes to the heart of UK values and principles – that is reason enough to start asking these tough questions. However, there is another reason to better understand and improve civilian protection – it is smart strategy. For every civilian we hit, we are missing our intended target while providing a support and recruitment tool for our adversaries. “

The full statement can be found here at APPG’s website, as well as in our depository.