The Philippine president has publicly linked more than 150 judges, mayors, lawmakers and military personnel to illegal drugs, revoked their gun licences and asked them to surrender for investigation.
Rodrigo Duterte promptly fired members of the military and police he named and ordered government security personnel to be withdrawn from politicians he identified in his nationally televised speech early Sunday.
Duterte’s latest move ratchets up his war against drugs, which has already left hundreds of suspected dealers dead and more than 4,400 arrested in a month since he took office. Nearly 600,000 people have surrendered to authorities.
Duterte says he will take full responsibility if any of those he named turn out to be innocent.
Human Rights Watch, Stop Aids and International HIV/Aids Alliance are among more than 300 civil society groups that have signed joint letters to the International Narcotics Control Board and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime , calling on them to break their silence over the crackdown.
“We are calling on the UN drug control bodies to publicly condemn these atrocities in the Philippines. This senseless killing cannot be justified as a drug control measure,” said Ann Fordham, executive director of the International Drug Policy Consortium, which coordinated the letter.
“Their silence is unacceptable, while people are being killed on the streets day after day.”
During his campaign leading up to this year’s election, Duterte said 100,000 people would die in his crackdown, with so many dead bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish there would grow fat from feeding on them. After his election win Duterte also launched a seemingly unprovoked attack against the UN.
“Fuck you UN, you can’t even solve the Middle East carnage ... couldn’t even lift a finger in Africa [with the] butchering [of] the black people. Shut up all of you,” he said.
Associated Press contributed to this report
