US strikes on alleged drug boats ‘unacceptable’: UN
US military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illicit drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must be stopped, the UN human rights chief said.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for an investigation into the strikes, appearing to mark the first such condemnation by a United Nations organisation.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Turk’s office, delivered his message at a regular U.N. briefing on Friday: “These attacks and their escalating human cost are unacceptable.
“The United States must stop such attacks and take all necessary measures to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people on these boats.”
He said Turk believed “the United States’ air strikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific violate international human rights law.”
President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on boats as a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States, but the campaign against drug cartels has been divisive among countries in the region.
U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced the latest U.S. military strike in the campaign against a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
All four people on board were killed.
This is the 14th strike since the campaign began in early September, while the death toll has risen to at least 61.
Ms. Shamdasani noted that the U.S. effort was described as an anti-drug and anti-terrorism campaign, but said the countries had long agreed that the fight against illicit drug trafficking was a law enforcement matter governed by “careful limits” on the use of lethal force.
He said the intentional use of deadly force is allowed only as a last resort against someone who poses an “imminent threat to life.”
“Otherwise, it would be a violation of the right to life and constitute an extrajudicial execution.”
Shamdasani said the attacks occurred “outside the context” of armed conflict or active hostilities.
