A United Nations human rights investigator says recent U.S. strikes on alleged “drug boats” could violate international law and may amount to crimes against humanity. The investigator and other experts characterize the attacks as extrajudicial killings based on allegations that the targeted vessels were involved in narcotics trafficking.

The UN’s position centers on how the strikes are carried out and the legal standards that apply at sea, including international maritime and humanitarian rules. The accounts published by different outlets describe the findings as concluding that the reported attacks are incompatible with those obligations. While the outlets focus on the legal implications, they do not provide new operational details about specific incidents in the underlying reporting, instead emphasizing the UN expert’s assessment of potential illegality and criminality under international frameworks.