The United Nations’ top human rights official has condemned a series of U.S. military airstrikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, calling them unlawful and demanding an immediate halt to the campaign. The operations, ordered by President Donald Trump and overseen by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have killed at least 61 people since early September.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the strikes are “unacceptable” and appear to constitute extrajudicial killings in violation of international law. His office confirmed that he has called for an investigation into the attacks, marking the first such condemnation from a UN body regarding the Trump administration’s maritime campaign.
“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk’s office, during a UN briefing on Friday.
Shamdasani added that Türk believed “airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law.”
Since the campaign began in early September, the U.S. military has conducted at least 14 strikes on vessels it claims were carrying illegal drugs from South America. The most recent strike, announced by Hegseth on Wednesday, targeted a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing all four people aboard. “It was the 14th strike since the campaign began in early September,” according to the Defense Department.
Trump has defended the strikes as part of a necessary escalation to combat drug trafficking. He told reporters earlier this month that his administration “won’t ask for a declaration of war” because “we’re just going to kill people.”
The UN human rights office rejected that framing, emphasizing that counter-narcotics operations are a law-enforcement matter, not a war effort. Shamdasani said countries have long agreed that such operations are governed by “careful limits” on the use of lethal force. “Intentional use of lethal force is allowed only as a last resort against someone representing ‘an imminent threat to life,’” she explained. “Otherwise, it would amount to a violation of the right of life and constitute extrajudicial killings.”
She added that the strikes are taking place “outside the context” of armed conflict or active hostilities—meaning they cannot be legally justified under the rules of war.
Ben Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur for the protection of human rights while countering terrorism and the Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney, went further in his assessment. He described the attacks as “a systematic attack on civilians,” which he said “is a crime against humanity under international law.”
“The U.S. has now murdered 57 civilians in attacks on 14 civilian boats,” Saul said in a post on social media Wednesday. “A systematic attack on civilians is a crime against humanity under international law. When will other governments speak out?”
Saul and other UN experts previously warned that under international law, “all countries must respect the right to life, including when acting on the high seas or in foreign territory. The use of potentially lethal force is only permitted in personal self-defence or defence of others against an imminent threat to life.” They said there is “no evidence” the U.S. strikes are being conducted in self-defense.
The administration, however, continues to describe the operations as acts of national self-defense and counterterrorism. In multiple briefings, Hegseth has said the attacks target “narco-terrorists” and “narco-trafficking vessels.” But the Pentagon has provided no public evidence supporting those claims—neither to the public nor to Congress.
On Tuesday, Hegseth announced that the Trump administration had carried out three strikes on four vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean that day alone. The strikes killed 14 people and left one survivor, who was rescued by the Mexican government. Mexico’s government condemned the strikes. The following day, Hegseth confirmed another strike, killing four more people.
Rights groups have joined the UN in condemning the campaign. Amnesty International USA called the operation a “murder spree.”
“In the last two months, the U.S. military’s Southern Command has gone on a murder spree by following the Trump administration’s illegal orders,” said Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty’s director for human rights and security. “The administration has not even named its victims, nor provided evidence of their alleged crimes. But even if they did, intentionally killing people accused of committing crimes who pose no imminent threat to life is murder, full stop.”
So far, the Trump administration has not released the names of those killed or evidence of any drugs recovered from the targeted vessels. No congressional committee has been granted access to the full legal justification for the strikes. Lawmakers say a classified report by the Office of Legal Counsel lists a wide range of cartels allegedly targeted under the campaign, but the administration has refused to release it publicly.
The secrecy has deepened concerns among lawmakers about whether the campaign violates both international and domestic law. Democrats were excluded from a recent Senate briefing attended by more than a dozen Republicans on the strikes, according to congressional sources.
Meanwhile, regional governments are increasingly alarmed. The Mexican government’s condemnation followed the rescue of the only known survivor from one of the boats destroyed this week. Other countries in the Caribbean and Central America have expressed unease about the strikes, which have occurred in or near their territorial waters without clear coordination or consent.
The U.N. high commissioner’s office has called on Washington to immediately suspend the campaign and conduct transparent investigations into each incident. “These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable,” Shamdasani said.
Saul has demanded prosecutions of those responsible, saying that “a systematic attack on civilians” falls squarely within the definition of crimes against humanity under international law.
The Trump administration’s response so far has been defiant. Trump has tied the maritime campaign to broader counterterrorism operations in the region, confirming that the CIA is also carrying out covert operations in Venezuela and surrounding areas. Venezuela’s government has claimed it recently foiled a false flag attack by a CIA-backed group on an American warship, underscoring the volatility of the region.
The mounting civilian death toll, the absence of transparency, and the growing international condemnation have drawn comparisons to past U.S. drone and counterterrorism operations criticized for secrecy and extrajudicial killings. But this campaign marks a new frontier: an undeclared maritime war carried out under the banner of counter-narcotics enforcement, outside any recognized armed conflict, and in violation of established international human rights norms.
As of this week, 61 people have been confirmed killed in U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats. None have been named. No evidence of their crimes has been presented. And despite UN demands for accountability, the Trump administration has not indicated any intention to halt the attacks.
“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable,” said Shamdasani. “The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.”
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