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GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. 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.
United Nations 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 United Nations 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 Pacific violate international human rights law.”
President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on the ships as a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States, but the campaign against drug cartels has caused division among countries in the region.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday announced the latest U.S. military strike in the campaign against a ship he said was transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. All four people on board died. It was the 14th strike since the campaign began in early September, while the death toll has risen to at least 61.
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Shamdasani highlighted U.S. explanations of the efforts as an anti-drug and anti-terrorism campaign, but said countries have long agreed that combating illicit drug trafficking is a law enforcement issue governed by “careful limits” placed on the use of lethal force.
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 armed conflict or active hostilities, Shamdasani said.