A new Amnesty International report calls for a UN investigation into crimes against humanity in the Philippines. The report illuminates the systematic killing of the poor in the Philippines brought about by “the lethal policy that the government calls the “war on drugs”” under President Rodrigo Duterte.
The report from Amnesty International, titled ‘They just kill’: Ongoing extrajudicial executions and other violations in the Philippines’ ‘war on drugs’, refers to the “war on drugs” as a “large-scale murdering enterprise.”
The report describes the systematic slaughter of thousands of urban poor under the Duterte administration, “In the three years since President Rodrigo Duterte took office, thousands of poor people suspected of using or selling drugs, or otherwise linked to drugs, have been killed by police and unknown armed persons.”
Thousands of people have been killed in the past three years, “According to Philippine National Police (PNP) figures, at least 6,600 “drug personalities” were killed in police anti-drug operations between July 2016, when the campaign began, and the end of May 2019,” according to the Amnesty International report, “thousands of other drug-related killings have been committed by unknown armed persons, at least some of whom are believed to be directly linked to the police.”
According to the report, local officials are pressured by police to put together vast numbers of names to go on the government’s “drugs watch list.”
Photo: “140805-F-AD344-142” by JIATF West is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
ANARCHIMEDIA 