The United Nations human rights chief has condemned the Trump administration’s military strikes on boats that it says are being used to smuggle drugs from South America, saying that they violate international law and should be investigated.
Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement released on Friday that there was no justification under international law for the strikes, which have killed at least 61 people since the start of September.
“These attacks — and their mounting human cost — are unacceptable,” he said, in blunt criticism of the United States. “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.”
Mr. Türk’s statement has more symbolic power than direct influence over the actions of the United States, which is a permanent member of the U.N Security Council. But the forceful condemnation offers fodder for the criticism of the Trump administration’s policy from Democrats and civil society groups.
President Trump authorized the strikes, and his administration has told Congress that the United States was engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels that it has declared to be terrorist organizations.
But the administration has presented little evidence to support its claims, and specialists in the laws of war and executive power say he has used the military in a way that had no clear legal precedent or basis. Mr. Türk’s office said it had no credible evidence of a confrontation with the cartels that met the criteria of armed conflict under international law.
In early October, Mr. Türk wrote in a letter to the U.S. government that countering drug trafficking was a law enforcement issue and lethal force was only justified as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life.
“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,” Mr. Türk said.
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