US strikes in Caribbean and Pacific violate int’l law, must stop: Top UN rights official

TEHRAN (Iran News) Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the remarks on Friday, voicing the first outright condemnation of the US military operations in that region from a UN organization.

“Over 60 people have reportedly been killed in a continuing series of attacks carried out by US armed forces against boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September, in circumstances that find no justification in international law,” Türk said, according to a press release by his office.

The senior UN official urged the US to stop its airstrikes and prevent the “extrajudicial killing” of people on board the vessels.

“These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable. The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them.”

Türk also said that international human rights law allows the international use of lethal forces only as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life, rejecting US justifications that the people on board the targeted boats had posed any such threats.

“Based 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,” he said, calling for “prompt, independent, and transparent investigations” into US attacks.

The Trump administration has been conducting military strikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast and the western coast of Latin America since September 2 this year, claiming that the vessels have been targeted as part of a campaign to combat drug trafficking. Since then, at least 61 people aboard these vessels have been killed.

Venezuela has vehemently denied the US claims, saying that Washington is working to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro and conduct regime change in the Latin American country. Venezuela also says its forces are already involved in combating drug traffickers.