Interview: Drone wars, terrorist attacks are both illegal -- German pacifist

Drone wars and terrorist attacks are both "illegal wars which we have to overcome," a German pacifist said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Drone attacks severely violate human rights, said Reiner Braun, one of the organizers of the "Stop Ramstein" protest in Germany and Co-President of the International Peace Bureau.

Those who give orders for drone strikes are not only playing the role of judge but also the role of the executor. It is impossible for them to distinguish terrorists and civilians, and most of the victims of drone attacks are the latter, he said.

In June 2016, Braun and other pacifists organized the "Stop Ramstein" protest against the drone attacks of U.S. government through the Ramstein air base in Germany, which aroused the public's attention.

The U.S. Government has launched series of drone attacks in many countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan since the 9/11 terrorist attacks .

The U.S. government claims the drone attacks are targeted at terrorist suspects, yet they result in huge casualties among innocent civilians and draw wide condemnation from the international community and media.

"So our position is, the drone war has to be stopped immediately, and what we need for the future is a drone convention, like the conventions for biological weapons and chemical weapons," Braun said.

According to the website of the "Stop Ramstein" protest, over 6,000 people have been killed by drones since 2010, and the cost for killing one terrorist is about 40 lives of innocent civilians, including women and children.

Besides human rights, Braun points out that the drone attacks also violate national sovereignty.

He said that the U.S. government has never declared war on countries such as Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Pakistan, yet they are subjected to drone strikes. The attacks breach the Geneva Convention and violate the sovereignty of those countries, he said.

A drone war is against the constitution of the United Nations, Braun said, stressing "we cannot accept this kind of politics."

A former U.S. drone pilot had revealed that the Ramstein air base in Germany functions as a relay station for the controlling signals from America to the drones that carry out operations in Middle East.

Braun said that the Ramstein air base is located in German territory, and the German constitution forbids any illegal wars against other countries and also forbids launching wars from German territory.

"Our position is, it is the responsibility of the German government to stop allowing the United States to use Ramstein as a relay station for the drones war. This is against the German constitution," Braun said.

He also noted that the refugee crisis in Germany is attributed to the wars launched by NATO and the United States. These wars have led to civilian deaths and made a number of countries unlivable for many. Braun said the attacks should end to allow refugees to return home.

"Terrorist attacks and the drone wars from the United States against Afghanistan and Pakistan are in the same way illegal and inhumanitarian," said Braun. "These are both illegal wars which we have to overcome." Endi