Airstrikes carried out by the United States against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific have drawn sharp criticism from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who said they \u201cviolate international human rights law\u201d and must stop immediately.<\/p>\n
More than 60 people have reportedly been killed in the continuing series of attacks since early September \u201cin circumstances that find no justification in international law,\u201d Volker Turk said in a statement.<\/p>\n
He urged the US to halt its \u201cunacceptable\u201d operations and take measures to prevent the \u201cextrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States has defended the operations as part of its ongoing efforts to combat drug trafficking and terrorism, asserting that they fall within the framework of international humanitarian law.<\/p>\n
Turk rejected that argument, stressing that countering illicit drug trafficking is a law-enforcement matter, governed by careful limits on lethal force set out in international human rights law.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that the intentional use of lethal force is lawful only as a last resort when individuals pose an imminent threat to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on the very sparse information provided publicly by the US authorities, none of the individuals on the targeted boats appeared to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them under international law,\u201d Mr T\u00fcrk said.<\/p>\n
The High Commissioner called for prompt, independent and transparent investigations into the reported attacks.<\/p>\n
While acknowledging the serious challenges posed by drug trafficking, Turk urged the US to ensure that all counter-narcotics operations respect international law, including the treaties to which it is a party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States should investigate and, if necessary, prosecute and punish individuals accused of serious crimes in accordance with the fundamental rule-of-law principles of due process and fair trial, for which the US has long stood,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Airstrikes carried out by the United States against alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific have drawn sharp criticism from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who said they \u201cviolate international human rights law\u201d and must stop immediately. More than 60 people have reportedly been killed in the continuing series […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-511997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n