UN Says US Strikes On Suspected Drug Boats That Killed 223 May Constitute Crimes Against Humanity | Sahara Reporters

The US military launched the operation, known as Southern Spear, in early September as part of efforts to combat drug trafficking and protect American citizens.

The United Nations has said recent US airstrikes on vessels allegedly involved in drug trafficking could constitute crimes against humanity, after attacks outside US territorial waters killed more than 220 people.

In a briefing note released by the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Special Rapporteur Ben Saul said at least 68 US strikes had been carried out in the Caribbean and Pacific since September 2025, killing 223 people, according to BBC News.

Saul said the attacks violated international law, arguing that the alleged targets had not launched an armed attack against the United States that would justify the use of force in self-defence. He also said membership in organisations designated as terrorist groups did not, by itself, establish a legal basis for the strikes.

“Such attacks amount to serial extrajudicial killings in violation of the right to life,” Saul said, adding that the strikes were not justified under international humanitarian law, the law of the sea or international counter-terrorism law.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the reported 68 attacks that killed 223 people constituted crimes against humanity of murder under customary international law,” he concluded.

The report came two days after the US military announced that it had killed four people in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean. The US Southern Command, which oversees American military operations in the region, said intelligence had confirmed the vessel’s involvement in drug trafficking.

“Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking. The operation killed four narco-terrorists,” Southcom said in a statement accompanying a video of the attack.

The US military launched the operation, known as Southern Spear, in early September as part of efforts to combat drug trafficking and protect American citizens.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said the operation was aimed at removing “narco-terrorists from our hemisphere” and protecting the United States from drugs.

However, US officials have not provided definitive evidence that the targeted vessels were involved in drug trafficking. Experts and Latin American leaders have also questioned the legality of the strikes since the operation began.