Human Rights Watch issued a statement yesterday in which it asserted that the most recent US boat strike, which killed four people on March 25, “highlights a sustained pattern of unlawful use of lethal force outside any context of armed conflict, amounting to extrajudicial executions.” That strike was the 47th in a series of lethal strikes by the US military in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans, resulting in a total of 163 people killed.
“These strikes aren’t one-off incidents, they’re part of a pattern of using military force where the law does not permit it, over and over again,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “The fact that these strikes have faded from public attention does not make these violations any less grave or unlawful.”
“International law draws a clear line between armed conflict and law enforcement,” the statement continues. “There is no armed conflict in the Caribbean or Pacific between the US and any drug-trafficking organization, and so there is no group of people who are a legitimate military target.”
“When unlawful force is repeated over time, it risks becoming normalized,” Yager said. “That’s dangerous because it opens the door to using lethal force whenever and wherever a government wishes and without constraints.”
