HRW urges UNHRC to launch independent probe into human rights abuses in the Philippines

International rights organization Human Rights Watch on Tuesday reiterated its call on the United Nations Human Rights Council to create an “independent, impartial and effective” investigation into the drug war killings in the Philippines.

In a statement delivered during the 44th session of the UNHRC in Geneva, Switzerland, HRW deputy Geneva director Laila Matar said that High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s report on the Philippines’ situation “provides a stark summary of the widespread and systematic rights violations ongoing in the country.”

“The report drives home the urgent need for the council to take action for international accountability,” Matar said.

“UN member states should urgently take more robust action to address these serious violations. The council has a responsibility to heed the recommendations by the High Commissioner and UN experts and create an independent, impartial and effective investigation into the Philippines,” she added.

In her report, Bachelet said the Duterte administration’s “heavy-handed” focus on both “real and inflated” threats to national security has led to “serious” human rights violations in the Philippines.

Bachelet also noted that the “harmful rhetoric” from high level-officials, including Duterte himself, has been “pervasive and deeply damaging,” with some rising to the level of “incitement to violence.”

She also said police reports on 25 operations in which 45 persons were killed all showed that police claimed to have recovered methamphetamine (shabu) and guns from killed individuals.

Bachelet said there has been “near impunity” for alleged extrajudicial killings committed in the context of the anti-illegal drug campaign.

“Its findings on the murderous ‘war on drugs,’ which has resulted in thousands of killings, are chilling,” Matar said.

The HRW also hit the Philippine government for its failure to make a “significant attempt” to hold those responsible accountable.

Matar also said about 100 children have already died in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.

“And there is much more, including extrajudicial killings of political activists, attacks on civic groups, assaults on media freedom and democratic space, and the government’s failure to make any significant attempt to hold those responsible accountable,” Matar said.

“President Duterte’s ‘drug war’ still rages, with killings by police and unidentified associates reported daily. But rather than investigating the crimes and bringing those responsible to justice, the administration harasses and jails and publicly encourages more killings.”

The International Criminal Court opened a preliminary examination into the complaints filed about Duterte's drug war in February 2018, prompting him to withdraw the Philippines from the court.

In July 2019, the UNHRC voted to set up an investigation into the thousands of killings in Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs.”

A resolution, led by Iceland, was adopted at the forum in Geneva by a vote of 18 countries in favor and 14 against, including China, with 15 abstentions, including Japan. — BM, GMA News