Lush Cosmetics is calling on the UK government to stop its involvement in a US drone programme that allegedly uses metadata to assassinate potentially dangerous people.
The UK cosmetics company is teaming up with human rights organisation Reprieve to raise awareness of the prevalence of summary executions in the US, which it claims are carried out by drones without fair trial.
Hilary Jones, Lush’s Ethics Director adds: ”Lush will never be a fan of summary executions, but when they appear to be based on such unreliable criteria we should all be concerned about what is being done here in our names.”
Reprieve has set live a quiz on its website and in Lush stores that consumers can take to see the injustice it says is being suffered.
Reprieve believes that the government uses metadata sourced from social media and telephone calls, while tracking where people have travelled, to gauge whether a person should be assassinated.
Maya Foa, Director of Reprieve, said: “It is shocking that people can end up on kill lists based on unreliable, circumstantial and often inaccurate data.
“As President Trump ramps up the rate of drone strikes in Yemen and elsewhere, close allies like Theresa May should be refusing to play any part in this illegal assassination campaign.
“We need full transparency and proper oversight of how intelligence is used to ensure the UK government end its complicity in this programme of Death by Data.”
What about Lush North America?
Talking about why the campaign is being headed up by Lush in the UK, not the US, Lush added: "Our campaigns are run in each country independently, with each Lush market choosing which issues and when they are appropriate.
"In the case of this campaign, we are working with a UK charity to ask the UK government to not be part of a programme of summary executions.
"Our Lush North America partners have other campaigns scheduled at the moment, but could choose to tackle this issue with a North American charity in the future if they wish and if timetables and priorities allow."
