Amnesty International is calling for the United Nations to investigate crimes against humanity committed in part by the “war on drugs” in the Philippines.
A new report Monday detailed what the rights said were police killings triggered by Phillippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “murderous anti-drugs campaign,” a crackdown that is “destroying lives and devastating communities.”
“Three years on, President Duterte’s ’war on drugs’ continues to be nothing but a large-scale murdering enterprise for which the poor continue to pay the highest price,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southeast Asia.
The report cites Philippines National Police figures that some 6,600 “drug personalities” had been killed between the start of the “war on drugs” campaign in July 2016 and the end of May 2019, an average of six per day.
“It is time for the United Nations, starting with its Human Rights Council, to act decisively to hold President Duterte and his government accountable,” Mr. Bequelin said.
Operations that Amnesty International examined found police cited the so-called “buy-bust” justification, describing undercover drug stings where suspects were armed and fought back, “prompting” the use of lethal force. A Filipino forensic expert interviewed by Amnesty International said the “buy-bust” reports she examined did not meet the “minimum standards of plausibility.”
Amnesty International found in the majority of cases they reviewed, those killed were on “drug watch lists” that were compiled by people outside the justice system.
Mr. Duterte’s “war on drugs” was central in the onetime provincial mayor’s presidential campaign, citing his hard-line record in his 22-year tenure as mayor of Davao City, according to the Human Rights Watch.
“If I make it to the presidential palace I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you better get out because I’ll kill you,” Mr. Duterte said on the eve of his 2016 election victory.
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