US strikes on alleged drug boats could be crimes against humanity, says UN
A report says the attacks, of which there have been at least 68, were not self-defence.
The report comes two days after the US military released these pictures of an attack on alleged traffickers in the Caribbean
A UN report has concluded that recent US airstrikes on vessels allegedly trafficking drugs breached international law and could constitute crimes against humanity.
The report by Special Rapporteur Ben Saul said since September last year there had been at least 68 US strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, outside US territorial waters, which killed more than 220 people.
But in a briefing note released by the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Saul said that "such attacks amount to serial extrajudicial killings in violation of the right to life, being unjustified in national or personal self-defence or under international humanitarian law, the international law of the sea, narcotics suppression conventions, or international counter-terrorism law".