Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2016
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines)
Copyright: 2016 Philippine Daily Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.inquirer.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1073
Author: Jovic Yee

'DON'T MAKE WAR ON DRUGS WAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS'

A COALITION of human rights advocates urged President Duterte 
yesterday not to make his war on drugs a war on human rights.

In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDefend) emphasized 
the need to deal with the cause of drug addiction in the Philippines-poverty.

Around 30 private groups gathered in Quezon City yesterday to launch 
iDefend, intended to "fill a vacuum" left by the collapse of the 
political opposition, as well as to provide legal services to 
families of victims of extrajudicial killings and police operations 
in Mr. Duterte's war on drugs.

People oppose killings

Former Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, spokesperson for iDefend, said the 
movement aimed to show the administration that there were people who 
opposed its policy of killing drug suspects.

The movement also aims to remind the Duterte administration of the 
Philippines' commitment to international human rights treaties, Bello said.

The spate of killings of drug suspects indicates that the Duterte 
administration is "simply addressing the symptoms instead of the 
principal cause of illegal drug use," he said.

"Most studies have shown that while only a small minority of the poor 
are drug users, illegal drug use is most prevalent among the poor and 
underprivileged, and the most likely reason is to escape from the 
harsh realities of poverty, hopelessness and powerlessness," he said.

Scale of the problem

Bello said the drug wars initiated by Colombia, Mexico and the United 
States had shown that "repressive drug policy does not work."

"The administration doesn't even know the scale of the problem it is 
dealing with ... Getting rid of drugs and crime by extrajudicial 
murder won't be accomplished in the promised three to six months. It 
won't be finished in six years," he said.

The former lawmaker said that unless the government generates jobs 
for all to enable them to live in dignity, the drug problem will persist.

"It all boils down to a war against the poor. We can be sure that 
even with a high kill rate, we will still have a massive drug problem 
after six years," Bello said.

As of noon yesterday, the INQUIRER's Kill List showed 601 drug 
suspects had been killed since Mr. Duterte took office on June 30. 
More than 200 of the killings have been attributed to vigilantes.

Virginia Suarez, Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya chair, said 
the government was equally responsible for the killings committed by 
vigilantes.

"Every citizen has the right to live and be protected in his own 
country, and that is the government's responsibility. It has the duty 
to resolve those killings [carried out] by vigilantes," Suarez said.

'Ineffective' campaign

She noted that the explanation that drug suspects are killing each 
other all the more shows that the campaign against drugs is "ineffective."

"Instead of safeguarding the people, the people are rendered more 
insecure and unsafe, and that shows immediately how ineffective the 
campaign of the government is," she said.

Suarez said the government must clarify how it looks at drug dependents.

She said drug users should not be looked at as criminals, but as 
"victims" in need of intervention.

The victims may have been forced into drugs because of poverty, she said.

Bello said that in the coming days, the movement would start working 
with the Commission on Human Rights and organizing people to call for 
the upholding of due process and the rule of law in the war on drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom