Rabia Iclal Turan
22 October 2025•Update: 23 October 2025
WASHINGTON
The UN’s top expert on counterterrorism and human rights condemned on Wednesday recent strikes by the US on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific as “illegal killings” under international law.
Ben Saul told reporters at a briefing at UN headquarters in New York that the operations violated international legal norms.
“I condemn these strikes as illegal killings under international law,” said Saul. “There is no authority in international law for using military force on the high seas to kill suspected drug traffickers or narco gangs.”
Saul criticized the limited international response. “Already, some governments, of course, have protested the treatment of their nationals. I am disappointed that relatively few governments have called this out and condemned it. It’s really only the states of nationality of some of the victims that have spoken up on this.”
He demanded accountability for those involved. “I see this as murder, and under international law, those responsible, including those who order these attacks --the president, the secretary of war -- must be investigated. Military officials who participate in these strikes should also be investigated.”
His comments came shortly after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that, at President Donald Trump’s direction, the US struck another vessel alleged to be carrying drugs, this time in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Hegseth said the vessel was traveling along a known “narco-trafficking transit route” and two “narco-terrorists” aboard were killed, which he said took place in international waters. No US forces were harmed, he added.
He did not provide evidence to support the claim that the vessel was carrying narcotics or identify the group allegedly operating it.
The attack marks the latest US strike on suspected drug-trafficking boats as part of the Trump administration’s campaign against “narco-terrorism.”
