‘Violence is not the cure for a broken world’
POPE FRANCIS, JANUARY 2017
Who killed Mamana Bibi?
Mamana Bibi was killed by a US drone strike in Northwest Pakistan, on May 14, 2014 while gardening. She was a 68-year-old midwife. A second drone strike several minutes later injured several of her grandchildren who had come to help her. See the full report on her death here. Mamana Bibi is one of thousands (estimated 4700) of civilians killed by drones across 7 countries.
What has the GCSB been up to?
The New Zealand Government Communications Security Bureau (GSCB), as a member of the 5-Eyes spying network, gives signals intelligence to the US drone assassination programme. Supposedly terrorists are the targets of drone strikes, but 9 out of 10 drone strike victims are civilians. Through the GCSB helping the drone programme, we are guilty of contributing to war crimes.
‘I no longer love blue skies’
ZUBAIR (GRANDSON OF MAMANA)
FACTS ABOUT DRONE ASSASSINATIONS
- In the first drone assassination attack, 2009 in Yemen, 40 people were killed, 14 of whom were women, and 21 were children. (Jeremy Scahill, The Assassination Complex, 2016)
- Lethal drone strikes are fuelling the expansion of groups like ISIS, according to former drone operators (Rueters, 2015)
- ‘(When) there is no disclosure of who has been killed, for what reason, and whether innocent civilians have died, the legal principle of international accountability is, by definition, comprehensively violated.’ (Phillip Aston, former UN Special Rapporteur)
- Intelligence ‘provided by foreign partners accounted for more than half the intelligence used to track potential kills in Yemen and Somalia.’ (Scahill)
- The GCSB has provided New Zealand staff to work in US surveillance centres in the Middle East – both GCSB staff on posting and GCSB-trained and supported New Zealand military staff.
- The legality of civilian GCSB staff assisting the killing of people with drone and other strikes is far from clear.
- Signals intelligence collected and/or processed by the GCSB is passed on the the US with no limitations on how it is used. (Nicky Hager)
- ‘Are you comfortable with the fact that information supplied by the GCSB is … potentially used for drone strikes?’ John Key: ‘Yeah, I’m totally comfortable with that.’
- Attempts to kill 41 people resulted in 1,147 people killed before Nov 2014. (Guardian, 2014)
DRONE ASSASSINATION AWARENESS WEEK
U.S. drone strikes have killed thousands of innocent civilians in 7 Muslim majority countries. The killing continues. Our Defense Forces (GCSB) are helping the killer drone programme, by giving signals intelligence to the U.S.
JOIN US AS WE:
- Witness to the killings
- Vigil and pray for the dead
- Pray for the perpetrators
- Call on the GCSB to end all assistance given to the Killer Drone programme
- Call on the GCSB to release all historic files
- Spread the word about Drone Assassinations.
Find out more or download/print out our flyer. You can also download our programme for the week here and our open letter to the GCSB.