Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The Donald Trump administration in the United States has authorized killing people in boats on the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, claiming they're transporting illegal drugs.
Maritime and international law experts have raised concerns about the legality of the attacks. And based on a maritime court case from 1884, this use of force may well be illegal.
The Trump administration argues its actions are part of a war against what it has termed "narco-terrorists." Killing the people manning these boats, it has said, will save the lives of Americans who might otherwise die of drug overdoses from the substances that are allegedly being transported by these boats.
The rationale that the United States. is justified to kill people at sea to save people is similar to what used to be called the "custom of the sea," which excused "survival cannibalism" if the consumption of one shipwrecked sailor helped the others survive. This custom, which basically excused "murder by necessity," was essentially outlawed in a landmark case in 1884.
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