For more than a year, the United States military has conducted dozens of strikes on boats in the Pacific and Caribbean, killing over 230 people under the banner of drug interdiction. Now, a United Nations special rapporteur has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe these operations constitute crimes against humanity — a designation that places the world's most powerful democracy in the company of those it has historically condemned. The strikes raise an ancient and unresolved tension: whether the ends of security can ever justify the extrajudicial taking of life, and who, in the en
UN expert says US drug boat strikes may constitute crimes against humanity
Over 230 people killed in 68 US military strikes on boats since September 2025, with victims including innocent civilians and low-level trafficking participants.