Pubdate: Sat, 06 Aug 2016
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016 Philippine Daily Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.inquirer.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1073

BLOODY PH DRUG WAR CATCHES EYE OF INT'L MEDIA

PRESIDENT Duterte's bloody war on drugs, which has taken the lives of 
more than 600 people in one month, has caught the attention of 
international media and human rights organizations.

The viral photo showing the lifeless body of suspected drug pusher 
Michael Siaron being cradled by his weeping wife Jennilyn Olayres 
"humanized the cost of this war on drugs," according to a Time report 
quoting Phelim Kine, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch (HRW).

But Mr. Duterte, in his inaugural State of the Nation Address to 
Congress on July 25, dismissed the photo, published by the INQUIRER 
on its front page a day before his speech, calling it melodramatic 
and seeking to evoke "Pieta," the sculpture of Michelangelo depicting 
a hearbreaking scene from the Deposition of Jesus.

"You are portrayed in a broadsheet like [the Virgin] Mary cradling 
the [body] of Jesus Christ. Let's do drama here," Mr. Duterte said.

The rising number of people killed in Mr. Duterte's campaign against 
drugs also landed on the Aug. 3 front page of the New York Times as 
well as its international edition.

A Washington Post editorial on Aug. 4, "Death squads in the 
Philippines," said Mr. Duterte "is overseeing exactly what he pledged 
in his campaign: a terrifying surge of extrajudicial killings of 
suspected drug dealers, users and criminals."

"Mr. Duterte's firebrand response to drugs has been popular. But the 
street executions are taking lives without trials or proof of 
criminality. Drug addicts and abusers who need medical attention and 
counseling are getting a bullet instead," the Post said.

Out of control?

A CNN report, meanwhile, asked, "Is the Philippines' war on drugs out 
of control?"

Media organizations based in the United Kingdom like The Guardian and 
the Daily Mail had also reported on the killings of suspected drug 
users and dealers.

The Daily Mail published online a compilation of harrowing photos of 
Mr. Duterte's brutal war on drugs.

In a commentary, Washington-based nonprofit policy research 
organization Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) 
likewise took note of the killings, citing the INQUIRER's regularly 
updated Kill List.

"But most concerning are Duterte's tactics in tackling crime and 
drugs, a top priority in his election campaign. Some of the fears of 
human rights advocates have been realized in the spate of 
extrajudicial killings that has erupted since Duterte's victory. He 
has encouraged violent retaliation against any drug dealer or 
financier who does not surrender, and, in the first month of his 
presidency, Philippine police reported killing more than 300 people 
in antidrug operations," CSIS said.

Jampacked jails

The New York-based HRW, which has earlier called for an inquiry into 
the alarming increase in police killings of suspected drug dealers 
and users in the Philippines, lamented that the drug war packed the 
already decaying jails in the country.

"The motivations of those who surrender are clear, say authorities: 
Fear of Duterte's ' war on drugs,' which is linked to hundreds of 
police killings of suspected drug dealers and users as well as 
summary murders by unidentified vigilante-style killers," Kine said 
in a statement.

"While police are not detaining all of those who turned themselves 
in, the thousands who are now behind bars are pushing the capacity of 
jails and detention centers to the breaking point," Kine said.

Int'l drug agencies

More than 300 civil society groups around the world signed joint 
letters calling on the International Narcotics Control Board and the 
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to urge an immediate stop to 
the extrajudicial killings.

UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov issued a statement on the 
reports of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug pushers and 
dealers in the Philippines.

"I join the United Nations secretary general in condemning the 
apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killing, which is illegal and a 
breach of fundamental rights and freedoms," Fedotov said.

"Such responses contravene the provisions of the international drug 
control conventions, do not serve the cause of justice, and will not 
help to ensure that "all people can live in health, dignity and 
peace, with security and prosperity," as agreed by governments in the 
outcome document approved at the UN General Assembly special session 
on the world drug problem," he added.

- -Inquirer Research
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom