December 11, 2025
Dear Minister Anand,
We write to you regarding the Trump administration’s unlawful strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats. Since mid-September 2025, the Trump administration has conducted at least 23 lethal military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and nearby parts of the Pacific Ocean and killed 87 people, claiming they were targeting “narco-terrorists” threatening US security. There are only two known survivors. The US strikes are unlawful extrajudicial executions that violate the fundamental rights to life and due process. Under both US and international law, those accused of crimes should be arrested and tried—not summarily executed.
The Canadian government should join other nations, including Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, France, and Mexico, and publicly object to these extrajudicial killings. On October 31, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the strikes are unlawful extrajudicial killings, noting that “none of the individuals on the targeted boats appeared to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them.” On December 2, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed “deep concern” about the strikes and called upon the United States to “refrain from employing lethal military force in the context of public security operations, ensuring that any counter-crime or security operation fully complies with international human rights standards; conduct prompt, impartial, and independent investigations into all deaths and detentions resulting from these actions; and adopt effective measures to prevent recurrence.”
We note with concern your recent assertion in the media that determining the legality of the strikes “is within the purview of US authorities.” At stake is a matter not of national discretion but of international law, which Canada has a long history of upholding. Canada has intervened at the International Court of Justice against Syria, Russia, and Myanmar and, most recently, signed on to a joint statement on Sudan calling out violations of international humanitarian law. We urge you to confirm that Canada will similarly seek to uphold international legal principles by condemning these boat strikes as unlawful.
As a partner to the US on counter-narcotics efforts, the Canadian government should also perform due diligence and evaluate its maritime cooperation with the United States, to ensure that it does not risk complicity in the Trump administration’s campaign of extrajudicial killings.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue. We remain available to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely,
Bruno Stagno Ugarte
Chief Advocacy Officer
Human Rights Watch
