Grade 5 of 5: International Crime (Rome Statute)
Operation Southern Spear: Lethal Drone Strikes on Caribbean and Pacific Drug Boats
A sustained campaign of Hellfire missile strikes on suspected drug boats has killed at least 231 people (CBS News count, September 2026) without due process, public evidence of drug trafficking, or identification of the dead. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul and Human Rights Watch characterise the strikes as extrajudicial killings; Saul's September 2026 briefing note to the Human Rights Council found reasonable grounds that they constitute a crime against humanity, as have several scholars (Lawfare, War on the Rocks).