UN human rights chief says US

Geneva – The United Nations human rights chief said Friday that U.S. military attacks on ships in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that are allegedly transporting illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for an investigation into the attacks, in what appeared to mark the first such condemnation by a U.N. organization.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for Türk’s office, delivered her message Friday at a regular UN briefing: “These attacks and their increasing human cost are unacceptable. The United States must stop such attacks and take all necessary measures to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these ships.”

He said Türk believed that “the United States of America’s airstrikes against ships in the Caribbean and the Pacific violate international human rights law.”

President Trump has justified attacks on what his administration calls “drug vessels” 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.

Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defense announced the latest US military attack in Wednesday’s campaign. He said his target was a ship transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Four people aboard the ship died. It was the 14th attack and 15th ship destroyed since the campaign began in early September, while the death toll has risen to at least 61.

In some, but not all, of the attacks, U.S. officials i have said The ships were linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has designated a terrorist organization.

the administration announced just a few weeks ago that had determined that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels that it has designated as terrorist organizations, including the Aargua Train.

The administration announced that determination in a notification to Congress in September, after the first attacks on suspected drug trafficking ships in the Mediterranean. That notice referred to three people killed in a Sept. 15 attack as “unlawful combatants,” which is the same term former President George W. Bush’s administration used to describe members of al Qaeda and other terrorist networks.

After September 11, 2001, the United States Congress authorized the use of military force against the terrorist organizations responsible for the attacks carried out that day. Congress has not yet authorized the use of military force to attack drug cartels, and many Details of the operations remain unclear.including which US forces are carrying out the attacks, based on what specific intelligence and with what weapons.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been among the staunchest critics of the strikesquestioning its legality under international law and its effectiveness in fighting narcotics trafficking gangs during an interview with News themezone. The Trump administration sanctioned Petro last weeksaying he had allowed “drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity.”

Shamdasani highlighted U.S. explanations of the efforts as an anti-drug and anti-terrorism campaign, but said countries have long agreed that fighting illicit drug trafficking is a law enforcement issue governed by “careful limits” placed on the use of lethal force.

The intentional use of deadly force is only allowed as a last resort against someone who poses “an imminent threat to life,” he said. “Otherwise, it would amount to a violation of the right to life and would constitute extrajudicial executions.”

The attacks are occurring “outside the context” of an armed conflict or active hostilities, Shamdasani said.