Campaign to Stop Killer Robots fired its government relations manager to protect relationship with Austria, says former employee
Ousman Noor was fired from the influential activist campaign last month after loudly calling for the protection of Gazan civilians.
2023-11-08, 3:29 p.m.: Clarification was added that, while Ms. Nada Tarbush is still listed by the Palestine mission to the United Nations as First Secretary, her current position is as Counselor — according to a statement from Ousman Noor.
2023-11-08, 3:43 p.m.: Embedded copies of both Austria and Palestine’s working paper submissions on autonomous weapons and fixed the title of the former.
2023-11-08, 4:32 p.m.: Adding discussion of the public statement the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots issued after publication of this article.
On the morning of Monday, October 30th, the coordinator for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, Richard Moyes, sent an email to the members of the international campaign: “Dear campaigners, I’m writing to let you know Ousman [Noor] has left the campaign staff team as of the end of last week.” The email came just as the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) was gearing up to vote on a resolution on lethal autonomous weapons proposed by the campaign and introduced — or ‘tabled’ — by the government of Austria. The successful resolution was a historic moment for the campaign, as the longstanding initial efforts through the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons — or CCW — had failed. A press release authored by Mr. Ousman Noor in May was even pointedly titled “Convention on Conventional Weapons runs out of road as states adopt meaningless report”.
According to Mr. Noor, a human rights barrister who previously founded the Habeas Corpus Project, he was in fact fired in retaliation for his public and private condemnations of Israel’s ongoing attacks on civilians in Gaza — particularly as a result of Austria’s strong partisan support for the state of Israel, including as one of only four European nations to oppose a UNGA proposal for a ceasefire with Gaza on October 27th. While several members of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots’ steering committee are employed by organizations which have publicly condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza, they have nevertheless refused requests for comment over the past week. Participants on the Campaign’s mailing list have been far less restrained, including one affiliate emailing in defense of the firing of Mr. Noor, emphasizing the importance of employers’ rights. In addition to implying that Mr. Noor improperly made usage of “the employer’s database and contacts”, the campaigner asserted that “it is important to comply with agreements, including confidentiality agreements.”
After publication of this article, the Campaign publicly tweeted a statement denying that Mr. Noor was fired over his comments on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, asserting that “we wish to categorically state that no-one has been dismissed for expressing their views on the Israel/Palestine conflict.” But, according to the timeline published on Mr. Noor’s website:
“The email of 18th October begins by stating that the Coordinator had become aware that I had sent my communication on Israel-Palestine to diplomats [Exhibit 5], the notice of termination of 27th October describes such communications as politically sensitive [Exhibit 9], and the concluding paragraphs of the notice recognises that the situation that has led to termination resulted from decisions I made about a cause and situation that I care about deeply. It was stated that my communications were incompatible with continuing to represent SKR [Stop Killer Robots] in the Government Relations Manager role [Exhibit 9].”
While the exhibits themselves have not been made public, the vague statement from the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots appears to be misdirection, as Mr. Noor has published that the official reason given for his firing on October 27th was “undertaking personal communications to key organisational stakeholders on a sensitive political issue [emphasis his]”.
At the center of the dispute is the manner in which Mr. Noor privately shared his October 14th tweet on Gaza with diplomats which he met in his capacity as a lobbyist with the Campaign. Perhaps the primary point of contention is Mr. Noor’s usage of a WhatsApp group he previously created for a February Campaign event in Costa Rica, entitled ‘Digital Dehumanization’. Of the five nations which had diplomats in the group, Austria was the only represented nation to have voted against the ceasefire. Potentially also at issue is a pointed criticism Mr. Noor shared with Campaign coordinator Richard Moyes regarding a since-scrapped draft statement from the Campaign regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Second-order conflicts of interest abound. Beyond Austria having tabled the Campaign’s successful UNGA resolution, it has also been a donor to the humanitarian nonprofit Article 36, which Mr. Moyes leads in addition to his role with the killer robots campaign. And Mr. Noor’s wife, Nada Tarbush, is employed as Counselor for Palestine’s mission to the United Nations. But in an email to the campaign on Friday, March 3rd, Mr. Moyes recommended working papers on autonomous weapons from both Austria and Palestine, with the latter being authored by Ms. Tarbush, arguing that “the groups in the CCW [Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons] have become a bit fixed in place and we need to find ways to shake them up”. Of the two working papers, Palestine’s was far more detailed and included a proposal for closing a loophole in the definition of autonomous weapons. (According to Mr. Noor, a major debate in the Campaign has been on whether to drop the deceptively restrictive term “lethal” from the campaign’s advocacy against “lethal autonomous weapons”.)
After quickly submitting a detailed rebuttal to Mr. Moyes’s October 30th characterization of his dismissal, Mr. Noor largely remained silent until he today launched a meticulous appeal on his new personal website, OusmanNoor.com. Entitled “Grounds of Appeal Against Termination of Employment by Stop Killer Robots”, it contains references to a detailed timeline and 27 exhibits which he shared with the Campaign’s steering commitee. Mr. Noor’s new statement concludes with four requested remedies, including a “public admission of wrongdoing by the Coordinator and SC [Steering Committee], relating to the termination of my employment contract”, as well as “a transparent investigation” into whether the Campaign’s “working relationship to Austria was a factor in the termination decision”.
Disclaimer: The author is, in a separate capacity, the executive director of a nonprofit which has been a member of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, Tech Inquiry.
Appendix
Copies of both Richard Moyes’s initial email to the Campaign list on Monday, October 30th, as well as Ousman Noor’s response, follow.
From: Richard Moyes <richard@article36.org>
To: Coalition KIller Robots <coalition@stopkillerrobots.org>
Subject: [StopKillerRobots] Ousman has left the Stop Killer Robots staff team
Date: Monday, October 30, 2023 10:02 AMDear campaigners,
I’m writing to let you know Ousman has left the campaign staff team as of the end of last week.
It’s always sad to see people go and we are very grateful for all the work that Ousman has done. We wish him all the best in whatever he pursues next.
Best wishes also to all of you for the week ahead - especially as a vote on the autonomous weapons resolution is fast approaching.Many thanks,
Richard
From: Ousman Noor <ousmannoor@gmail.com>
Subject: Termination of Employment at Stop Killer Robots - The Facts
Date: Monday, October 30, 2023 6:53 PMDear colleagues,
I am writing to you to correct a misleading statement made by Richard Moyes, Coordinator of Stop Killer Robots, regarding my employment as Government Relations Manager for the campaign.
It had not been my intention to publicly set out details on a matter that I had understood to be internal to the campaign. However, I have now become aware that an email from Richard Moyes was sent earlier today to a wide range of stakeholders, including government representatives, which compels me to clarify matters.
I have not left the Stop Killer Robots campaign staff team. On the contrary, I received a 'notification of termination' on Friday 27th October, which explicitly states that my employment will end on 31st January 2024. I have not resigned, nor have I made a decision to leave the campaign staff team. It is therefore misleading to state that I left the staff team on 27th October 2023, especially since my employment is ongoing.
Again, I did not intend to disclose details relating to this notice of termination, but as the issue has now been made public, I consider it necessary to set matters straight.
The Facts
For over 3 years, I have been employed as Government Relations Manager for Stop Killer Robots, an international coalition of 250+ civil society organisations from 70+ states, advocating for new international law on autonomous weapons systems. Further details relating to Stop Killer Robots, including its vision and values, list of steering committee members and list of member organisations are available online.
Between 8th-14th October, I was privileged to join colleagues at the UN General Assembly to advocate in favour of a resolution on autonomous weapons systems, tabled by Austria at the First Committee on Disarmament and International Security. During this time, the world was simultaneously witnessing alarming developments in Israel & Palestine.
On Friday 13th October, upon learning of the dehumanising termination of food, water, gas and electricity supply to the residents of Gaza, I decided to speak out on the grave legal and humanitarian concerns relating to the situation within my personal capacity. This was done by recording and sharing a tweet on my personal account on Saturday 14th October. This Tweet can be found here
This tweet was shared with a limited number of friends and colleagues via WhatsApp message. Following this, I received notification from Richard Moyes of an intention to terminate my employment contract, and was advised to refrain from any advocacy related work. On 27th October, I received a notice of termination of employment which refers to 'undertaking personal communications to key organisational stakeholders on a sensitive political issue' as reason for the termination.
Despite the fact that the notice of termination includes a right of appeal, which I will be exercising, and that my employment remains ongoing until 31st January 2024, in accordance with the law, access to my work account and email was immediately terminated, and my profile removed from the Stop Killer Robots website. I am therefore writing to you from my personal email address - ousmannoor@gmail.com
I have been deeply surprised by the actions of Stop Killer Robots, especially as our values and principles include belief in the inherent dignity of people, in life and in death, and working together as activists to overcome system's of inequality and oppression. Further, a recently developed Stop Killer Robots Code of Conduct explicitly protects the right of staff members to express views on political matters (although, as mentioned above, the view that I expressed within my tweet was legal and/or humanitarian in nature).
In closing, I wish to state that the purpose of this email is not to denigrate any particular member of the campaign. On the contrary, throughout this period I have expressed my utmost respect for members of the campaign staff and steering committee. However, following Richard's email I have considered it necessary to send this email to clarify matters relating to my employment with the campaign.
As stated above, access to my work account and email has been terminated. If you would like to contact me, you may do so by email to ousmannoor@gmail.com. If you have already emailed me on my work email since Friday 27th October, please be informed that I have not received it, and I invite you to email me again if your communication was relevant to me personally.
Kind regards
Ousman Noor