UN experts demand accountability 1 year into US military drug-boat strikes

A group of United Nations-appointed human rights experts renewed calls for an investigation into U.S. strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats as the campaign reached its first anniversary Wednesday.

At least 224 people have been killed in the strikes, according to Pentagon figures. Those responsible for violations of international law, “including military and civilian chains of command,” must be held accountable, the panel appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council said in a statement marking the anniversary.

The U.S. military has struck at least 68 vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since the first attack on Sept. 2, 2025, according to publicly released Defense Department figures. The campaign became part of Operation Southern Spear, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in November.

The administration of President Donald Trump says the attacks are necessary to protect Americans by disrupting the flow of illegal narcotics from cartels in the region.

U.S. officials maintain that the strikes are lawful under domestic and international law, since they say Washington is engaged in an armed conflict with designated terrorist organizations.

Congress has not authorized the use of military force against drug traffickers, according to the previous quarterly inspector general report to Congress on Southern Spear.

The latest lethal strike announced by U.S. Southern Command was Aug. 25, when Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere attacked a go-fast vessel in the Caribbean, killing four people the command described as “narco-terrorists.” SOUTHCOM said confirmed intelligence showed that the vessel was involved in narcotics trafficking.

Three days later, U.S. forces working with Ecuador interdicted rather than attacked a vessel in the eastern Pacific that SOUTHCOM said was being used as a floating refueling station for drug-trafficking boats.

The U.N. experts rejected the U.S. government’s legal justification for the lethal strikes and called Tuesday for an end to the “unlawful killings.”

“International law does not permit governments to simply murder alleged criminals at sea, just as the police cannot summarily execute people on the street in United States territory,” their statement said.

They said drug traffickers are not combatants and that there is no armed conflict between the United States and the criminal organizations that would allow their members to be targeted under the laws of war.

Under international human rights law, lethal force may be used for law enforcement purposes only when strictly necessary to protect life or prevent serious injury from an imminent threat.

“The United States has not asserted such a threat and has indicated that it could have, but chose not to, intercept ships,” they said. “Alleged drug traffickers are not combatants. These killings are extrajudicial and unlawful.”

The experts called for an independent and transparent investigation into the “alleged violations of the right to life,” and said that “victims and their families are entitled to full reparation, including compensation, and guarantees that such killings will not recur.”

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for independent investigations in October, and three of the experts who signed the latest statement issued a similar demand in November.

Criticism has also come from domestic quarters. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said last month that after reviewing classified documents governing the campaign, he believes the military exceeded the administration’s own criteria for lethal strikes.

“A careful review of the available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking,” Kaine wrote in an Aug. 3 letter to Trump. “They are murder victims.”

Hegseth has strongly defended the campaign, calling Operation Southern Spear “a resounding success thus far” during a speech in Panama last month.

“We have knocked the narco-terrorists in the maritime domain on their heels,” Hegseth said at the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition conference. “We are retaking the open seas and our maritime borders.”

Hegseth said the campaign had reduced suspected drug-vessel movements by at least 65% in the western Caribbean, 60% in the eastern Caribbean and nearly 50% in parts of the eastern Pacific. He did not provide data supporting those figures.

The campaign has increasingly involved U.S. military cooperation with countries in the region.

El Salvador has allowed armed U.S. military aircraft to operate from its bases, while Ecuador has conducted joint operations against designated terrorist organizations.

Panama has permitted U.S. forces to conduct jungle training and other exercises on its territory, according to the inspector general report.

In his Panama speech, Hegseth accused opponents of seeking to have the International Criminal Court assert jurisdiction over U.S. and partner military personnel involved in the campaign, calling such a move a “lawless power grab.”

“We answer only to our own citizens and our own constitutions, not unelected international bureaucrats,” Hegseth said.

The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, and the court has not announced an investigation into the boat strikes.

The court can, however, under some circumstances exercise jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed on the territory of member countries even when the accused is a citizen of a nonmember country.

The Trump administration has argued that the president has constitutional authority to use military force to defend the United States and has characterized cartel activities as “insurgency and asymmetric warfare” against the country.

The inspector general report said 66 vessels had been struck and 218 people killed or presumed dead through June 30. Four people had been rescued. SOUTHCOM has since announced two additional lethal strikes, on Aug. 23 and Aug. 25.

The complete list of designated terrorist organizations subject to military targeting has not been publicly released.