Drone Summit Statement

On April 28th and 29th, people from across the United States and around the world gathered in Washington to learn about the disturbing increase in the use of remotely piloted aircraft (drones) for illegal warfare killing and surveillance and discuss what we could do together to bring these issues into greater public debate, to bring the use of drones under democratic control, and to ensure that the use of drones complies with the prohibitions against illegal war and killing and illegal surveillance in international law, the U.S. Constitution, and other U.S. law.

We pledge:

– to educate the American public about civilian deaths in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere as a result of the use of drones for illegal killing;

– to educate the American public about the increasing use of drones for surveillance that violates Americans’ right to privacy;

– to agitate with Members of Congress, President Obama, federal agencies, and state and local governments to restrict the use of drones for illegal killing and surveillance;

– to agitate with news media to report on civilian casualties from the use of drones for illegal killing, and to report on violations of privacy rights by the use of drones for surveillance;

– to support legal efforts to make the use of drones legally accountable, and to use such efforts to educate the public and news media;

– to support campaigns to pressure corporations to dissociate themselves from the use of drones for illegal killing and illegal surveillance;

– to work with faith communities to raise the issue of the increasing use of drones for illegal killing and surveillance in their communities;

– to support students and faculty members in raising the issue of drones on campus, including educational activities, pledges to refrain from research on drone and robotics weapons; divestment from companies involved in the research, production and maintenance of drones for illegal killing and illegal surveillance;

– to support direct action to educate the American public and media about drones;

– to support U.S. delegations to countries where the U.S. government is killing civilians with drones, to raise the profile of such delegations, and to help people who participate in such delegations share their experiences

– to stay in communication with other individuals and groups in our network, sharing information about and supporting each others’ actions.

You might want to check out:

Signed,
Reprieve UK
CODEPINK
The Center for Constitutional Rights
Just Foreign Policy
Global Exchange
Veterans for Peace
St. Louis Instead of War Coalition
Peace Action
and more to follow!

Individual signatories (organizations for affiliate purposes only)

Dorothy Utnik
Cynthia Banas
Coralie Farlee (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-DC)
Ken Howland (Network for Spiritual Progressives)
Jack Smith
Joe Scarry (Midwest Antiwar Mobilization)
Joan H. Nicholson
Rae Kramer (Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars)
Ann Tiffany (Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars)
Ed Kinane (Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars)
Judy Homanich (Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars)
George Homanich (Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars)
Amber Mason (Dorothy Day Catholic Workers)
Frans Zoer (Catholic Worker Amsterdam)
Reza Saiedi
Alexa Koenig (Human Rights Center)
Lars Prip (Veterans for Peace)
Malachy Kilbride
David Barrows (Witness Against Torture)
Joan Stallard (CODEPINK)
Karen Pontius (CODEPINK)
Desiree Fairooz (Northern Virginians for Peace and Justice)
Mark Roman (Maine Bring Our War Dollars Home)
JoAnna Lingle (Hoosiers for Peace and Justice)
Sandra Beerends
Jim Haber (Nevada Desert Experience)
Jimmy Johnson (Neged Neshek)
Davis Soumis (Veterans for Peace)
Mark Gubrud (University of North Carolina)
Chelsea Faria (Hampshire College)

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