UN human rights chief says US strikes on alleged drug boats are ‘unacceptable’ - AP News

The U.N. human rights chief said Friday that U.S. military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on the boats as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk addresses attendees on the activities of his Office and recent human rights developments around the globe, during the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)

The U.N. human rights chief said Friday that U.S. military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on the boats as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk addresses attendees on the activities of his Office and recent human rights developments around the globe, during the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk addresses attendees on the activities of his Office and recent human rights developments around the globe, during the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief said Friday that U.S. military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to mark the first such condemnation of its kind from a United Nations organization.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk’s office, relayed his message Friday at a regular U.N. briefing: “These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats.”

She said Türk believed “airstrikes by the United States of America on boats in the Caribbean and in the Pacific violate international human rights law.”

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on the boats as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States, but the campaign against drug cartels has been divisive among countries in the region.