Why United Nations says US boat strikes may be ‘crimes against humanity’

A United Nations report has concluded that US strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific are illegal and could constitute “crimes against humanity”.

In a report published on Monday, UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul said attacks on 68 vessels from September last year to August killed at least 223 people and entailed the “illegal use” of disproportionate force.

The findings were released just days after the US military announced its latest attack on another boat, which killed four people. US President Donald Trump’s administration, which frames the operations against the boats as part of a military conflict, said they are necessary to prevent the flow of lethal drugs into the United States. It has described the drug shipments as an “armed attack” on US territory.

Here’s what we know about why the US has been attacking the boats and whether these strikes are legal:

The report found that the strikes by US forces are unjustified under national and international law and thus amount to “serial extrajudicial killings in violation of the right to life”.

They “plausibly constitute crimes against humanity”, it said.

Even if those attacked were found to be members of organised criminal or “terrorist” groups as the US has claimed, there is no evidence that they had launched an armed attack on the US or were being used as proxies by other countries, which would warrant a US military attack, the report noted.

Saul, the UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, added that drug trafficking “is not equivalent to a military attack”.