The assertion by Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano that critics of the government’s “drug war” have “politicized” and “weaponized” human rights (News, 3/1/18) is totally without basis. It only serves to frustrate calls by many on the Duterte administration’s accountability for atrocities related to the so-called war on drugs. The truth is, the Philippine government needs to answer for the more than 12,000 lives lost without due process in this brutal campaign across the country. The government should stop depicting itself as the victim.
The Philippines should heed Iceland’s call to cooperate with a mission of experts mandated by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The UNHCHR should take all the necessary measures to help end extrajudicial killings in the Philippines’ drug war and bring those responsible to justice, including establishing an independent international body to investigate these abuses, which may amount to crimes against humanity.
CARLOS CONDE, Philippine researcher, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch