GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief says against vessels allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop.
The condemnation Friday appeared to mark the first of its kind from a United Nations organization.
President Donald Trump has on the boats as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
Volker Türk, the rights chief, called for an investigation into the strikes, and said more than 60 people had reportedly been killed in the strikes on boats in the region since early September, said U.N. human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable,” she told a U.N. briefing in Geneva on Friday.
She said Türk believed “airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law.”
“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable,” she added. “The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.”
Shamdasani noted U.S. explanations of the efforts as an anti-drug and counter-terrorism campaign, but said countries have long agreed that the fight against illicit drug trafficking is a law-enforcement matter governed by “careful limits” placed on the use of lethal force.
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