IDPC and partners warn against misuse of 'narcoterrorism' narrative - Statement at the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council
IDPC and partners warn against misuse of 'narcoterrorism' narrative - Statement at the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council
(…) We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s new Report A/HRC/61/52, in particular the recognition of “grave recent abuses of counter-terrorism laws” against suspected drug cartels and gangs.
Since last September, ongoing lethal U.S. military attacks on civilian boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean have killed more than 150 people. These killings are being justified in the name of combatting “narcoterrorism” but are in fact extrajudicial executions. The unlawful January 3 U.S. military operation in Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro to face “narcoterrorism” charges left more people dead.
The resurgence of the “narcoterrorism” narrative is troubling. It aims to conflate any form of drug trafficking with acts of terrorism. This strategy is being used to justify excessive use of force, commit blatant human rights violations, and restrict civil society efforts to hold Member States accountable for such actions. (idpc – international drug policy consortium, UK, 10.03.2026)