Contact: Sharon Singh, [email protected], 202-675-8579, @spksingh
Suzanne Nossel, Amnesty International USA executive director, responds to use of drones in tonight's presidential debate:
"All of tonight's rhetoric about democracy, freedom and security was drowned out by a the dull roar of drones. President Obama avoided a question about America's remote controlled killing machines and Governor Romney embraced President Obama's use and expansion of drone killing. Both ignored the U.S. government's human rights obligations to end unlawful drone killings. They spoke of the need to win over peoples as part of the fight against terror, but ignored the impact of drones on populations threatened by civilian deaths by drones. When will the United States have a serious conversation about drones?"
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.