US strikes on alleged drug boats may be ‘crimes against humanity’, UN says

A United Nations human rights expert has declared that US assaults on suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean contravene international law and could potentially constitute crimes against humanity. In a report released on Monday, Ben Saul, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, stated that the US has engaged in 68 such attacks in international waters from September 2025 to August of this year, resulting in the deaths of at least 223 individuals.

The US has justified these strikes as measures of self-defense against "narco-terrorists," with former President Donald Trump asserting that the operations signify a state of armed conflict with purported "terrorist" entities. The report, however, disputes this reasoning. "The United States military attacks are... in violation of international law, breach the fundamental human right to life, and reasonably qualify as crimes against humanity," the report asserts.

The claims were unveiled just two days following the US military's announcement of a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, resulting in the alleged deaths of four individuals. The campaign has also faced widespread condemnation from human rights organizations, which have labeled the killings as extrajudicial. The Pentagon has shared footage of the strikes on social media platforms but has provided scant information about the victims and the evidence connecting them to drug trafficking.

Saul's report emphasizes that the US lacks the authority to employ force in self-defense against alleged drug trafficking.