(Geneva, Switzerland – 20/11/2025)

The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) expresses grave concern over recent lethal airstrikes authorised by the United States on boats in the vicinity of Latin America and the Caribbean, which are allegedly linked to drug trafficking. Reports indicate that these strikes have killed more than 80 people since early September. These actions represent a deeply troubling escalation of punitive enforcement practices which raise serious concerns regarding compliance with international law and human rights standards.

The GCDP aligns with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in calling for an immediate halt to these operations. The High Commissioner has made it clear that these actions “find no justification in international law” and that “these attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable”. He has further emphasized that the intentional use of lethal force is only lawful “as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life”, a condition which, based on available information, was not met.

Addressing organised crime is a legitimate objective, but it should be pursued through strict adherence to international human rights norms and standards.

The recent airstrikes are consistent with a long-standing pattern of harmful and punitive approaches to drugs. As documented in the Global Commission’s 2024 report, Beyond Punishment: From Criminal Justice Responses to Drug Policy Reform:

• In 2020, 3.1 million people were arrested globally for drug-related offences, primarily for simple possession.
• In 2023, more than forty per cent of all known executions worldwide were for drug-related offences.
• Governments spend approximately USD 100 billion annually on punitive drug policy approaches which have not achieved their stated goals of reducing drug production or consumption.
• These policies have fuelled violence, over-incarceration, systemic human rights violations, and illicit markets.

Expanding the use of lethal force at sea – outside any context of armed conflict – represents an alarming escalation which risks normalizing extrajudicial killings in the name of drug control. Such actions set a dangerous precedent.

Calls from Latin America

GCDP Commissioner Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has warned that “in the fight between the world’s largest drug producer and its largest consumer, only organized crime wins”. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva cautioned at the CELAC-EU summit against using military force under the guise of drug control, describing such interventions as a recurrence of “illegal interventionist rhetoric”.

A better way forward

The Global Commission on Drug Policy urges the United States and governments in the region to adopt pathways to drug policy that work – including decriminalization, harm reduction, and health- and human rights-based approaches – replacing failed punitive strategies with evidence-based, life-saving policies. In practice, this means:

1. Cease lethal operations which fall outside the permissible limits of international human rights law.
2. Conduct independent investigations into all reported deaths and ensure accountability.
3. Implement human rights-based policing that respects international law. Lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against an imminent threat, and all interventions must ensure due process. Policies should also address the structural harms caused by militarized drug enforcement.
4. Decriminalize drug possession.
5. Redirect resources toward regulated markets, harm reduction, treatment, and sustainable development, ensuring interventions which prioritize safety, public health, and human dignity.

Governments cannot meaningfully reduce drug-related harms and deaths without comprehensive investment in harm reduction and other health services, and in social and economic development. Effective drug policy must prioritize evidence-based strategies which save lives, reduce violence, and promote stability, rather than repeating punitive approaches which have consistently failed.