UN Expert Warns US Boat Strikes May Constitute Crimes Against Humanity

Ben Saul, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, rejected the White House’s self-defense justification for the operation. While officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth characterize the strikes as necessary counter-narcotics measures against "narco-terrorists," Saul emphasized that international law provides no authority for unilateral military force against organized crime groups.

The Legal Threshold of Murder

The report highlights that at least 234 people have been killed across 70 strikes by US Southern Command. Saul drew a sharp parallel to the "war on drugs" in the Philippines under former President Rodrigo Duterte, who faces international trial for state-sanctioned killings of suspected drug offenders. According to the UN expert, the US campaign similarly targets individuals without evidence of an "armed attack," violating the fundamental right to life. Data from Customs and Border Protection further complicates the administration’s narrative, showing little evidence that the strikes have impacted domestic drug flow.

Beyond the legality of the strikes, the report notes that victims have included fishermen and migrants. As the administration expands these operations into land-based military partnerships in countries like Ecuador, the UN findings suggest a deepening pattern of extrajudicial killings that bypass both international humanitarian law and the law of the sea.