Rights groups call for UN to condemn Philippine president for sharp rise in drug killings

Over 300 anti-narcotics and human rights groups from around the world on Tuesday called for the United Nations to condemn Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs that has resulted in a sharp increase in drug killing.

More than 600 suspected drug dealers and users have been killed in the Philippines in less than three months, human rights group say.

The appeal, directed to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), came as an influential Philippine senator called for an investigation into the killings of suspected drug pushers, endorsed by the newly elected president, who proudly goes by the nickname “The Punisher”.

Senator Leila de Lima and the foreign organisations cited reports of police killing hundreds of people since Mr Duterte won May elections largely on a platform to wage a bloody war on drugs.

"Instead of ensuring the rights of people suspected of committing drug-related crimes... the President has called for them to be executed on the spot," said the statement from groups such as the Australian Drug Foundation and Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.

"President Duterte should understand that passive or active government complicity with those killings would contradict his pledge to respect human rights and uphold the rule of law," said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The statement called on the INCB and the UNODC to condemn the killings and "demand an end to the atrocities."

Ms De Lima, in a speech before Senate, also lashed out at the killings.

"We cannot wage the war against drugs with blood. We will only be trading drug addiction with another more malevolent kind of addiction. This is the compulsion for more killing," said the senator, a former justice minister who also headed the nation's human rights body.

​Ms De Lima said police were summarily killing even innocent people, using the anti-drug campaign as an excuse.

Since assuming the presidency on June 30, Mr Duterte has promised to protect police and soldiers from sanctions for killing criminals and even urged ordinary citizens and communist rebels to join in the bloodshed.

At his inauguration on June 30, Mr Duterte identified illegal drugs as one of the country's top problems and vowed that his government's anti-drug battle "will be relentless and it will be sustained."

Now in office, he has praised the killings as proof of the "success" of the anti-drug campaign and urged police to "seize the momentum."

While his campaign has been widely popular in the impoverished Philippines, more groups have begun criticising Duterte, with Ms De Lima calling for a congressional probe into the killings.

But the president has dismissed human rights concerns while police have insisted that they only acted in self-defence.

In June, even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Mr Duterte's apparent support of extra-judicial killings.

Police figures showed that as of Tuesday, 402 drug suspects had been killed a month into Duterte's presidency.

The figure does not include those slain by suspected vigilantes.

The country's top broadcaster, ABS-CBN, reported that 603 people had been killed since Duterte was elected, with 211 murdered by unidentified gunmen.

• A leader must be a terror to the few who are evil in order to protect the lives and well-being of the many who are good.”
• “If I become president, I advise you people to put up several funeral parlour businesses. They will be packed. I’ll supply the dead bodies.”
• “Pardon given to Rodrigo Duterte for the crime of multiple murder, signed Rodrigo Duterte.”
• “You son of a whore Pope Francis. Why don’t you just go home?”
• "Many are asking what my credentials are and what I can do for the Philippines. They are telling me that they heard I am a womaniser. That is true. That is very true.”
• "I was angry because she was raped, that’s one thing. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first, what a waste."