US strikes on alleged drug boats may be ‘crimes against humanity’, UN says

UN expert says US forces have killed 223 people in 68 attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific in the past year.

An explosion occurs on a vessel during what the US military says was a strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean Sea, in a screengrab from a video released on February 13, 2026 [Handout/US Southern Command via Reuters]

A United Nations human rights expert has concluded that US attacks on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean violate international law and may amount to crimes against humanity.

In a report published on Monday, Ben Saul, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, said the US has struck 68 vessels in international waters between September 2025 and August this year, killing at least 223 people.

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The US has defended the strikes as acts of self-defence against “narco-terrorists”, and President Donald Trump has told Congress that the operations reflect a state of armed conflict with designated “terrorist” organisations.

The report, however, rejected that framing.

“The United States military attacks are… contrary to international law, violate the human right to life, and plausibly constitute crimes against humanity,” it said.

The findings came two days after the US military announced it had killed four people in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea. The campaign has also drawn condemnation from human rights groups, which have called the killings extrajudicial. The Pentagon has released videos of the strikes on social media but has disclosed little about who was killed or what evidence tied them to drug trafficking.

Saul’s report said the US has no right to the use of force in self-defence against alleged drug trafficking.

No right to self-defence

It argued that drug trafficking does not meet the legal threshold of an “armed attack” that would trigger a right to self-defence. It noted that international law only permits self-defence against non-state actors sent by a state, but that there “appears to be no factual basis” that some of the groups designated as “terrorists” by the US, such as Tren de Aragua, were acting as armed proxies of the Venezuelan state.

TThe report also noted that less-lethal alternatives were available, including the maritime interception of vessels – a measure that it said has been acknowledged as feasible by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Because of this, the report said the US attacks also violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which permits lethal force only as a last resort against an imminent threat – a standard it said was not met.

It went further, arguing that the killings meet the legal definition of murder as a crime against humanity, since they were carried out “systematically” under an organised state policy and are widespread “given the large number of victims”.

It also called on the US to investigate the killings, prosecute those responsible – including political and military leaders who ordered the strikes – and provide reparations to victims’ families.

Beyond examining the legality of the attacks, the report also questioned the effectiveness of the campaign in reducing drug trafficking to the US. It said cocaine seizures at the US border have remained steady, and noted that much of the region’s cocaine moves through container ships that are rarely inspected, and not the small boats being targeted.

It also said the strikes have done nothing to address fentanyl and opioids, which are not typically trafficked by sea from Venezuela and are the leading cause of US overdose deaths.

The report added that by killing 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 said.

联合国专家称，过去一年，美军在加勒比海和太平洋地区发动了68起袭击，造成223人死亡。

2026年2月13日发布的一段视频截图显示，在美军所称的对加勒比海一艘疑似贩毒船只的袭击中，一艘船只发生爆炸。[图片由美国南方司令部提供，经路透社发布]

联合国人权专家得出结论，美国对加勒比海和太平洋上涉嫌贩毒船只的袭击违反了国际法，可能构成危害人类罪。

联合国人权和反恐问题特别报告员本·索尔周一发表的一份报告称，从2025年9月到今年8月，美国在国际水域袭击了68艘船只，造成至少223人死亡。

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美国辩称这些袭击是针对“毒品恐怖分子”的自卫行为，唐纳德·特朗普总统告诉国会，这些行动反映了与被认定的“恐怖”组织之间的武装冲突状态。

然而，该报告驳斥了这种说法。

声明称：“美国的军事袭击……违反国际法，侵犯了人类的生命权，很可能构成危害人类罪。”

调查结果公布两天前，美军宣布在加勒比海袭击一艘船只，造成四人死亡。此次行动也遭到人权组织的谴责，他们称这些杀戮属于法外处决。五角大楼已在社交媒体上发布了袭击视频，但并未透露死者身份或将他们与毒品走私联系起来的证据。

索尔的报告称，美国无权以自卫为由打击所谓的毒品走私活动。

没有自卫权

该报告认为，贩毒行为并不符合“武装袭击”的法律标准，因此不构成自卫权。报告指出，国际法仅允许对非国家行为体进行自卫，但报告认为，美国认定的某些“恐怖组织”，例如阿拉瓜列车（Tren de Aragua），并非委内瑞拉的武装代理人，“似乎没有任何事实依据”。

该报告还指出，还有一些非致命的替代方案，例如海上拦截船只——报告称，美国国务卿马可·卢比奥已经承认这一措施是可行的。

因此，该报告称，美国的袭击也违反了《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》，该公约只允许在面临迫在眉睫的威胁时，将致命武力作为最后的手段——报告称，这一标准并未得到满足。

该报告更进一步指出，这些杀戮符合谋杀罪作为危害人类罪的法律定义，因为它们是在有组织的国家政策下“有系统地”进行的，而且“鉴于受害者人数众多”，这些杀戮十分普遍。

声明还呼吁美国调查这些杀戮事件，起诉责任人（包括下令进行袭击的政治和军事领导人），并向受害者家属提供赔偿。

除了审查袭击的合法性之外，该报告还质疑了这项行动在减少向美国贩运毒品方面的有效性。报告指出，美国边境的可卡因缴获量一直保持稳定，并强调该地区的大部分可卡因是通过很少接受检查的集装箱船运输的，而不是通过此次行动针对的小型船只。

报告还指出，这些打击行动对解决芬太尼和阿片类药物问题毫无作用，这些药物通常不是从委内瑞拉经海路走私而来，但却是美国药物过量致死的主要原因。

报告还指出，这些空袭行动通过击毙低级别嫌疑人，可能正在削弱瓦解贩毒集团网络和起诉其头目的努力。报告称：“与此同时，据估计，到2026年中期，这些军事行动已耗资47亿美元——这些资金原本可以用于循证执法、公共卫生和发展干预措施。”