GENEVA

The UN human rights chief on Friday said recent US airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, said to be linked to drug trafficking, "violate international human rights law."

"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," Volker Turk said in a statement.

He described the strikes and their "mounting human cost" as "unacceptable," urging Washington to "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."

The US has argued the operations are part of anti-drug and counter-terrorism efforts governed by international humanitarian law. But Turk stressed that tackling cross-border drug trafficking is "a law-enforcement matter, governed by the careful limits on lethal force set out in international human rights law."

"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 added.

Turk called for "prompt, independent, and transparent investigations" into the strikes and urged the US to combat illicit trafficking through lawful interceptions, arrests, and prosecutions that uphold due process and fair trial standards.