(NEW YORK) — The United Nations said Friday that U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean violate international human rights law and must stop.
In a statement to ABC News, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that the attacks breach international law and called for an investigation into the strikes.
“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, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them,” Türk said.
“Under international human rights law, the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life,” he added. “Based on the very sparse information provided publicly by the U.S. authorities, none of the individuals on the targeted boats appeared to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them under international law.”
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told ABC News that President Donald Trump is working to eliminate threats to U.S. security.
“The UN has failed at everything from operating an escalator to ending wars — it’s ridiculous that they are now lecturing President Trump and running cover for evil narcoterrorists trying to murder Americans. The President acted in line with the laws of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from destroying lives,” Kelly said.
Since September, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have executed over a dozen military strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, arguing they are anti-drug and counter-terrorism measures.
Over 60 people have allegedly been killed in the strikes, according to U.S. officials.
In announcing the latest and most deadly strike Wednesday, Hegseth said the U.S. “carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization in the Eastern Pacific.”
“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” he added.
This is the first time the U.N. has condemned the strikes.
“The United States should investigate and, if necessary, prosecute and punish individuals accused of serious crimes in accordance with the fundamental rule of law principles of due process and fair trial, for which the U.S. has long stood,” a statement from his office reads.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk, mirrored this sentiment at a Friday U.N. briefing.
“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,” she said.
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