Friends and family members of victims of U.S. drone strikes in Yemen are launching a national drone victims’ organization Tuesday to support affected communities and lobby for a change in Yemeni government policy regarding the covert program. The National Organization for Drone Victims (NODV), with the assistance of UK-based legal charity Reprieve, will conduct investigations of drone strikes and highlight the civilian impact of the U.S.’ controversial drone program in Yemen. Baraa Shiban, the project coordinator for Reprieve, told Al Jazeera that the constant presence of drones in Yemen is devastating communities. “We are talking almost 50 percent of the country — ten provinces in total — who suffer from the constant hovering of drones.” Shiban said that NODV will assist affected communities in the aftermath of drone strikes by focusing on the economic impact of the loss of families’ primary bread-winners, psychological trauma and physical injuries. NODV is the brainchild of Mohammad al-Qawli, an adviser to the Ministry of Education who lost his brother, an elementary school teacher, in a 2013 drone strike. Frustrated with the Yemeni government’s refusal to provide any answers or explanations for his brother's death, he began reaching out to other families impacted by drone strikes with the aim of establishing a large support network and coordinating public resistance. Human rights groups have denounced the drone campaign as illegal, maintaining that the majority of victims have been innocent civilians. In a report released Thursday, the United Nations Human Rights Committee called for more oversight and transparency in the program and expressed concern that the U.S. government had not clarified the criteria or legal basis for drone strikes.

The stories of our innocent should be made public. Faisal bin Ali Jaber Environmental engineer

While the Yemeni parliament passed a resolution in 2013 criminalizing drone strikes, they continue with the approval of the Yemeni administration. The past year has seen a surge in drone strikes in the country and there have been at least 17 such attacks in the past two months alone, Shiban said. To date, there have been 293-430 people killed by confirmed drone strikes in Yemen and 311-499 people killed by possible drone strikes, according to estimates by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, an independent nonprofit organization based in London. The White House has stressed that its policy is in line with domestic and international law, and carried out in close partnership with the Yemeni government. Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House's National Security Council, said that in advance of any strike there had to be "near-certainty" that no civilians would be killed or injured. In situations where civilians have been killed, the U.S. investigates "thoroughly" and makes condolence payments "where appropriate and possible," she added. NODV will largely focus its efforts on getting the Yemeni government to investigate these strikes, Shiban said. “Under Yemeni law, the attorney general is required to investigate these deaths. That hasn’t happened yet. We hope to open a number of legal cases challenging the drone program,” he said.

Social cost