A priest conducts Mass during a memorial held by family members of Chad Joseph, whose family believe he was killed in a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean, at Saint Michael’s Roman Catholic Church in Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago, on October 22, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The UN human rights chief says U.S. military strikes against vessels allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop.
The condemnation on Friday (October 31, 2025) appeared to mark the first of its kind from a United Nations organisation.
President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on the boats as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.
Volker Turk, the rights chief, called for an investigation into the strikes, and said more than 60 people had reportedly been killed in the strikes on boats in the region since early September, said UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable,” she told a UN briefing in Geneva on Friday.
She said Mr. Turk believed “airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law.” “These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable,” she added.
“The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.” Ms. Shamdasani noted U.S. explanations of the efforts as an anti-drug and counter-terrorism campaign, but said countries have long agreed that the fight against illicit drug trafficking is a law-enforcement matter governed by “careful limits” placed on the use of lethal force.
Published – October 31, 2025 05:51 pm IST
