G7 ministers discuss legal concerns over U.S. operations

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio may face questions from allies at a Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in Canada on Wednesday (12 November) over Washington’s military operations in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America.

It's amid growing concerns about whether the strikes breach international law.

The U.S. military has carried out at least 19 strikes so far against suspected drug vessels, resulting in at least 76 deaths since September.

French Foreign Minister openly criticised the U.S. strikes on Tuesday, while a senior European official said on Wednesday that the G7 meeting would be an “ideal forum” to discuss the actions, even though they were not officially on the agenda.

The Trump administration maintains that those targeted were transporting drugs, without providing evidence or publicly explaining why the boats were attacked rather than stopped and their crews arrested. Washington has justified the operations under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which requires the Security Council to be informed immediately of any self-defence actions against armed attack.

Independent UN experts last month noted that “even if such allegations were substantiated, the use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea and amounts to extrajudicial executions.”

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