War vs poor

The ground realities in President Duterte’s abusive war on drugs show that he’s not “fighting hard to rid (his) country of drugs,” but that he’s pursuing a murderous war against the poor. This war has resulted in the brutal, violent deaths of thousands of Filipinos.

Human Rights Watch research has exposed a damning pattern of unlawful police conduct in these killings. The pattern paints a veneer of legality over the summary executions. Many of the 3,271 killings the police attribute to “vigilantes” were in fact death-squad style, extrajudicial executions, and there is widespread suspicion that police and police agents were behind these heinous crimes.

It can hardly be denied that President Duterte has been an enthusiastic cheerleader for those killings. He has made repeated calls for the public to kill drug addicts as part of his
antidrug campaign. These calls could constitute criminal incitement to commit murder.

Mr. Duterte has also repeatedly called for the Philippine National Police to target suspected drug users and drug dealers, applying extrajudicial violence. Such a call could be considered instigating law enforcers to commit murder.

Countries with close bilateral ties to the Philippines, particularly the United States, have an obligation to demand accountability for the victims of President Duterte’s abusive drug war, rather than roll out the red carpet for its mastermind.

PHELIM KINE, deputy director for Asia, Human Rights Watch