"Unacceptable": UN human rights chief condemns Trump admin's boat strikes

What he's saying: "These attacks — and their mounting human cost — are unacceptable," said Volker Türk, UN high commissioner for human rights, in a Friday statement.

• "Under international human rights law, the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life," he added.

The other side: A White House official dismissed the criticism.

• "Whoever this is should spend more time focusing on Escalator-gate instead of spouting off at the mouth about this," the official said, referring to an escalator that broke when Trump arrived to address the UN General Assembly in New York City in September.
• The Defense Department did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Driving the news: As of Wednesday, the U.S. conducted at least 14 strikes and killed at least 61 people in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean with very little information about who has been killed and on what evidence.

• The White House has justified the strikes by claiming the victims were trafficking drugs to the U.S., claiming President Trump doesn't need congressional authorization to target "narco-terrorists."

• The administration has refused to seek congressional authorization for the strikes and has shared limited information with lawmakers justifying them.

The latest: "Countering the serious issue of illicit trafficking of drugs across international borders is — as has long been agreed among States — a law-enforcement matter, governed by the careful limits on lethal force set out in international human rights law," Türk said on Friday.

Go deeper: How Trump's strikes on "narco-terrorists" have escalated off Venezuela and beyond

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from the Trump administration. Axios' Marc Caputo contributed reporting.