UN expert says US strikes on alleged drug boats may constitute ‘crimes against humanity’

A special rapporteur for the UN human rights council has concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the United States attacks on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Pacific and Caribbean “constituted crimes against humanity”.

The boat strikes, carried out since September 2025 on the stated grounds of stopping drugs being trafficked by sea to the US, have killed more than 230 people. The latest, on Saturday, killed four people in the Caribbean.

The UN itself, along with several human rights organisations, lawyers and international law experts, had already described the bombings as “extrajudicial killings”, but special rapporteur Ben Saul went further to confirm the notion. 

The special rapporteur also wrote that the crews were not “militarily armed and possessed the intent and capacity to launch military attacks” against the US. Journalists and human rights groups have also managed to identify some of the victims, who in many cases were innocent or, when suspected of involvement in criminal activity, were at best low-ranked participants in trafficking networks.

The report cites 68 US attacks that killed 223 people. It is unclear how recently the figures were updated – tallies by organisations such as the Washington Office on Latin America put the death toll at 234 people in 66 attacks. As has become standard in announcements of such attacks, the US did not identify the victims or provide any details about the alleged intelligence that supposedly confirmed their involvement in drug trafficking.