Philippines faces call for UN investigation into killings from Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs
- Philippines government has insisted the more than 5,000 suspected drug dealers killed all put up a fight
- However, activists say that at least 27,000 have been killed, including the latest victim, a three-year-old child
Iceland submitted the draft resolution backed by mainly European states, they said. The text urges the government to prevent extrajudicial executions and marks the first time that the Human Rights Council is being asked to address the crisis.
The Duterte government has insisted the more than 5,000 suspected drug dealers killed by police in anti-narcotics operations all put up a fight.
But activists say that at least 27,000 have been killed since Duterte was elected in 2016 on a platform of crushing crime and that Myka, a three-year-old shot during a police raid last weekend, is among the latest victims.
“Here we are three years later with 27,000 killed, among the most impoverished, in a massive crackdown. That is a conservative estimate,” Ellecer “Budit” Carlos of the Manila-based group iDefend told Reuters.
“In a non-armed conflict context, this is the worst case of extrajudicial killings globally,” he said after urging the council to act.