UN expert states US forces have killed 223 people across 68 attacks in the Caribbean and Pacific over the past year.
A United Nations human rights expert has determined that US strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean breach international law and potentially constitute crimes against humanity.
In a report released on Monday, Ben Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, stated that the US struck 68 vessels in international waters between September 2025 and August of this year, resulting in at least 223 deaths.
The United States has justified the strikes as acts of self-defense against “narco-terrorists,” with President Donald Trump asserting to Congress that the operations reflect an armed conflict with designated “terrorist” organizations.
However, the report firmly rejected this characterization.
“The United States military attacks are… contrary to international law, violate the human right to life, and plausibly constitute crimes against humanity,” the report stated.
These findings emerged two days after the US military reported killing four individuals in a Caribbean strike. The campaign has also faced condemnation from human rights organizations, which have labeled the killings extrajudicial. While the Pentagon has released videos of the strikes on social media, it has disclosed minimal information regarding the identities of the deceased or evidence linking them to drug trafficking.
Saul’s report asserted that the US possesses no right to employ force in self-defense against alleged drug trafficking.
No Right to Self-Defence
The report argued that drug trafficking does not meet the legal threshold of an “armed attack” required to trigger self-defense. It noted that international law only permits self-defense against non-state actors acting on behalf of a state, yet there “appears to be no factual basis” for treating designated “terrorist” groups, such as Tren de Aragua, as armed proxies of the Venezuelan state.
The report also highlighted that less-lethal alternatives were available, including the maritime interception of vessels—a measure the UN noted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has acknowledged as feasible.
Consequently, the report stated the US attacks violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which permits lethal force only as a last resort against an imminent threat—a standard the report argued was not met.
Furthermore, it argued that the killings meet the legal definition of murder as a crime against humanity, as they were carried out “systematically” under an organized state policy and are widespread “given the large number of victims.”
The report also urged the US to investigate the killings, prosecute those responsible—including political and military leaders who authorized the strikes—and provide reparations to victims’ families.
Beyond examining the legality of the attacks, the report questioned the campaign’s effectiveness in reducing drug trafficking to the US. It noted that cocaine seizures at the US border have remained steady and pointed out that much of the region’s cocaine travels via container ships, which are rarely inspected, rather than the small boats being targeted.
It also emphasized that the strikes have done nothing to address fentanyl and opioids, which are not typically trafficked by sea from Venezuela and remain the leading cause of US overdose deaths.
The report added that by targeting low-level suspects, the strikes may be undermining efforts to dismantle cartel networks and prosecute their leaders. “Meanwhile, it has been estimated that the military operations had cost US$4.7 billion by mid-2026—funds that could have instead been spent on evidence-based law enforcement, public health, and developmental interventions,” it noted.