An international human rights watchdog is urging Southeast Asian leaders to take a stand against the Philippines’ war on drugs, which has left thousands dead under President Duterte, the host of this week’s regional summit.
Amnesty International said leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) must consider whether the killings amount to a serious breach of its charter, particularly its pledge to human rights.
It said up to 9,000 people have been killed by police or unknown assailants since July 2016. Officials said not all deaths reported were drug-related while others were killed in legitimate police operations.
“As the death toll mounts, so does evidence of the Philippine authorities’ role in the bloodshed,” said Champa Patel, Amnesty’s director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Patel said the Philippines’ chairing the Asean summit “is a scandal, and should prompt the government to make independent and effective investigations into unlawful killings an immediate priority.”
Prompt, impartial probe
In an open letter to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Amnesty also called on authorities to conduct a prompt and impartial investigation
of all drug-related killings, and to press criminal charges against suspects.
The letter came on the heels of the move to prosecute President Duterte and other government officials in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said “the so-called extrajudicial killings are not state-sanctioned or state-sponsored.”
He said that police conducting legitimate operations were required to follow protocols and those who breach them were made to answer before the law.
Amnesty chapters from 20 countries, including the Philippines, issued the open letter to Aguirre urging him to “prioritize” the investigation of drug-related killings, as these may constitute crimes against humanity.
Send clear message
“Send a clear public message to all law enforcement officials that extrajudicial executions are unacceptable and strictly prohibited at all times,” the group said.
High-ranking government officials, in particular Mr. Duterte, have explicitly and repeatedly incited police as well as private citizens to kill people they suspect of using or selling drugs, rather than acting in accordance with national laws,” Amnesty said.
The open letter was signed by the heads of Amnesty chapters in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Thailand, Taiwan, United States and the Philippines.
International court
On Monday, a lawyer for confessed Davao Death Squad hit man Edgar Matobato asked the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, to investigate
Mr. Duterte and 11 other government and police officials for possible crimes against humanity in the antidrug campaign.
In its annual report on the human rights situation in the country, Amnesty International said most of the 33 killings of alleged drug suspects it had investigated appeared to have been extrajudicial executions carried out by police officers or by assassins paid by police officers.
The group said Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs was a war against the poor, as most of those killed were from urban poor communities.
It said the “violent and lethal” approach taken by Philippine authorities against alleged drug users and pushers not only violated human rights but would only increase the levels of violence and corruption without solving drug crimes.
Former Commission on Human Rights Chair Etta Rosales said the filing of the complaint in the ICC was “just the beginning of a rigorous process of judicial determination” and warned that the matter should not be used for politicking.
“Not for one moment should anyone use the ICC and this particular case as a tool for propaganda and deal-making,” Rosales said.
She said she welcomed the filing of the complaint to charge Mr. Duterte and other government officials with crimes against humanity.
“I personally consider this as an important step toward strengthening the rule of law in terms of holding the individuals concerned accountable for their actions, words and inactions; and in terms of subjecting the current approach to drug abuse to a thorough and objective judicial review,” she added. —REPORTS FROM AP AND DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN