A UN rights expert warns the US that its ‘shoot-to-kill’ posture overseas and at home risks eroding the absolute prohibition on arbitrary killings.
GENEVA: A UN human rights expert has issued a stark warning over the United States’ “shoot-to-kill” posture in international and domestic operations.
UN Special Rapporteur Morris Tidball-Binz said this approach risks “lowering the threshold for the use of lethal force”.
“There are no exceptions to the absolute and universal prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of life,” said the independent expert.
He stressed that international law forbids states from killing based on “labels, perceptions of how someone appears, or allegations of wrongdoing”.
His statement follows recent US military actions, including a major naval deployment in the Caribbean.
This involved deadly strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats and a high-profile operation to seize Venezuela’s leader.
Tidball-Binz emphasised that unprovoked force on another state’s territory violates the UN Charter.
Such acts could constitute “the international crime of aggression attributable to individual political and military leaders”.
“Deaths resulting from such an act of aggression are arbitrary by definition,” he stated.
The expert also expressed grave concern over a recent fatal shooting by a US immigration officer in Minneapolis.
He demanded an “independent, impartial and transparent investigation” into the woman’s death.
Tidball-Binz urged the US to urgently review its laws and rules of engagement on lethal force.
“The right to life is non-derogable and non-negotiable,” he insisted.
He concluded that states must never normalise an approach that erodes the strict limits international law places on killing.
