THE International Drug Control Consortium (IDCC), a network of non-governmental organizations that focuses on issues related to drug production, trafficking and use, on Wednesday urged international drug- control agencies to condemn the alarming surge of killings of suspected drug users or dealers in the Philippines.
The letter urging the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to take action was signed by the Human Rights Watch and more than 200 other organizations.
“International drug-control agencies need to make clear to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that the surge in killings of suspected drug dealers and users is not acceptable ‘crime control,’ but instead, a government failure to protect people’s most fundamental human rights,” Philime Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“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,” he said.
In its letter, the consortium calls on the UNODC and INCB to assert that President Duterte’s actions to incite these extrajudicial killings cannot be justified as being in line with global drug control.
“All measures taken to control drugs in the Philippines must be grounded in international law,” it said.
The UNODC and INCB was also asked to “request” that President Duterte put an immediate end to incitements to kill people suspected of committing drug-related offenses.
The petitioners also asked the international drug-control agencies to encourage the Philippine President to uphold the rule of law and ensure that the right to due process and a fair trial is guaranteed to all people suspected of committing drug-related crimes, in line with the conclusions of the 2016 UNODC World Drug Report.
They said Mr. Duterte should also promote an evidence-based and health-focused approach to people who use drugs, including voluntary treatment and harm- reduction services, instead of compulsory detention, in line with the UNODC’s guidelines.
Last, in line with the international human-rights obligations of the Philippines—and with the official position of both the UNODC and the INCB—the petitioners called on the Philippines not to reimpose the death penalty for drug offenses.
“International drug-control agencies can play an invaluable role in halting the rising body count of suspected drug dealers and users killed by both the police and unidentified vigilantes,” Kine said. “The current status quo in the Philippines puts human rights, rule of law, and the safety and security of Filipinos in immediate peril.”