{"id":22160,"date":"2020-11-26T02:18:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T02:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/11\/26\/german-government-cant-force-us-to-follow-international-law-on-drone-strikes-court-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:54:18","slug":"german-government-cant-force-us-to-follow-international-law-on-drone-strikes-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/11\/26\/german-government-cant-force-us-to-follow-international-law-on-drone-strikes-court-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"German government doesn\u2019t have to ensure US follows international law on drone strikes, court rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BERLIN \u2014 Germany\u2019s top administrative court has ruled the country\u2019s government can\u2019t be forced to ensure that U.S. drone strikes controlled via an American military base on German territory are in line with international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decision Wednesday by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig overturns a ruling last year that held the German government partly responsible for making sure that such military operations comply with international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ruling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2015\/05\/27\/court-rejects-yemenis-case-against-germany-over-u-s-drones\/\" target=_blank>restores a lower court decision in 2015 <\/a>that concluded the German government had fulfilled its legal duties and was within its rights to balance them with \u201cforeign and defense policy interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case was brought by human rights groups on behalf of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2014\/10\/15\/yemeni-man-sues-germany-over-u-s-drone-strikes\/\" target=_blank>three Yemeni plaintiffs<\/a> who allege their relatives were killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2012. They alleged that the U.S. air base in Ramstein, southern Germany, plays a key role in the relay of flight control data used for armed drone strikes in Yemen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Gibson of the human rights group Reprieve said the plaintiffs would continue to campaign against the drone strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat we are talking about here is a secret assassination program that kills scores of civilians each year,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cIt is simply unsustainable, and despite today\u2019s ruling, clearly unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2015\/05\/27\/court-rejects-yemenis-case-against-germany-over-u-s-drones\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635644284267512535-1332757jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Court rejects Yemenis&#8217; case against Germany over U.S. drones<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A German court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit against the government brought by three Yemeni men who lost two relatives in a U.S. drone strike.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Granting the German government\u2019s appeal against last year\u2019s verdict, judges in Leipzig said that Berlin could only be compelled to take further action if \u201cdue to the number and circumstances of the breaches of international law that have already taken place there must be a concrete expectation further actions that are illegal under international law will also occur in future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They also concluded that there was no direct link to Germany in the case, citing the provision of technical relay capabilities as insufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judges noted that the German government had taken some steps to address the issue in its communications by seeking assurances from Washington, thereby proving that Berlin had made an effort to ensure the plaintiffs\u2019 rights were protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andreas Schueller, a lawyer with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights who argued the case for the Yemeni plaintiffs, said his clients were considering an appeal before Germany\u2019s highest court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA state that makes its territory available for military operations must enforce international law and human rights more strongly than the German government does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The three Yemenis plaintiffs alleged the U.S. air base in Ramstein played a key role in relaying flight control data used for drone strikes in Yemen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,22,8,23,93,12,25,68],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2463],"class_list":["post-22160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-disaster","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NBQOT24PWJCODHRIGBCMX4KV54","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2020\/11\/25\/german-government-cant-force-us-to-follow-international-law-on-drone-strikes-court-rules\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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