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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Tiago Rogero, South America correspondent

US strikes on alleged drug boats may constitute ‘crimes against humanity’, UN expert says

a man holds a child in front of a memorial for a loved one
Messiah Burnley, nephew of Chad Joseph, who family members believe was killed in a US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean, carries a girl in front of an altar for Joseph in the family home in Las Cuevas, Trinidad and Tobago, on 22 October 2025. Photograph: Andrea de Silva/Reuters

A special rapporteur for the UN human rights council has concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that the United States attacks on boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Pacific and Caribbean “constituted crimes against humanity”.

The boat strikes, carried out since September 2025 on the stated grounds of stopping drugs being trafficked by sea to the US, have killed more than 230 people. The latest, on Saturday, killed four people in the Caribbean.

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