Amnesty International’s letter

Herbie  Gomez

I’M yielding my space to the April 26, 2017 open letter by Noble prize laureate Amnesty International to our government through Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

Twenty of its directors from across the world signed the letter, namely: Claire Mallinson of Australia, Philippe Hensmans of Belgium, Francophone Alex Neve of Canada, Markus Beeko of Germany, Mabel Au of Hong Kong;

Aakar Patel of India, Usman Hamid of Indonesia, Taro O’Sullivan of Japan, Catherine Hee Jin Kim of Korea, Shamini Darshni of Malaysia;

Altantuya Batdorj of Mongolia, Nirajan Thapaliya of Nepal, Grant Bayldon of New Zealand, Eduard Nazarski of The Netherlands, John Peder Egenes of Norway;

Butch Olano of the Philippines (not the former member of the Misamis Oriental provincial board), Esteban Beltrán of Spain, Piyanut Kotsan of Thailand, James Fang of Taiwan, and Margaret Huang of the US.

Read on:

“We are writing to urge you to send a clear message that the unlawful killing of alleged drug offenders is never justified, and to ask you to ensure prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations into all killings by police  and  unknown armed persons since the start of the government’s “war on drugs”.

“The findings of these investigations should be made public, and where there is evidence of crimes being committed, criminal prosecutions should follow.    Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the widespread, and continued killing of alleged  drug offenders may constitute crimes against humanity. Highanking government officials, and  in particular the Philippines President, have explicitly and repeatedly incited police, as well as private citizens, to kill  people they suspect of using or selling  drugs, rather than acting in accordance with national laws.

“Our concerns are based on our report “If you are poor, you are killed” Extrajudicial executions in the Philippines “War on Drugs”, that was published on 31 January 2017. Based on witness statements and corroborating documents–including police reports–and other information, Amnesty International concluded that the vast majority of the killings that we investigated appear to have been extrajudicial executions–that is, unlawful and deliberate killings carried out by government order or with its complicity and acquiescence.

“In most cases documented by Amnesty International, there was a link between the killings and the fact that the victims were on a “drugs watch list,” said to be prepared by local government officials and shared with the police, with little verification. Amnesty International also found evidence of links between state authorities and armed persons who  carry out drugelated killings who are paid by police officers to do so, as well as evidence of unofficial payments to police officers themselves to kill.

“Our research has shown that most of  those that have been killed are men from  urban poor communities, in effect making what is officially portrayed as the “war on drugs” a war on the poor. Moreover, this has had a devastating impact on children, who have been killed, harmed during police operations or experienced severe trauma as a result of losing a parent, sibling or from witnessing a killing.

“To  date, the Philippine authorities have by and large adopted a violent and lethal approach towards people who use drugs instead of using a public health approach. Anti-drug operations have violated the non-derogable right to life and undermined people’s right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, forcing many of those who use drugs and who have not fallen victim to extrajudicial executions into involuntary and inadequate rehabilitation  programmes.

“This has also meant that testing and  treatment services are inaccessible to the vast majority of drug users.

“Until now, it is unclear how many police, and unknown armed persons,  have been  investigated,  let alone charged for suspected extrajudicial executions, and other serious human rights abuses.

“Counter-narcotic operations and other law enforcement practices based on the use of force and a militarized  approach are not the solution to drug  crime, and have instead been shown to increase levels of violence, intimidation and corruption usually associated with drug markets.

“In light of the above, and the alarming scale of the human rights violations involved, we are calling on you, as Secretary of Justice to:

“• Send a clear public message to all  law enforcement officials in the Philippines that extrajudicial executions are unacceptable and strictly prohibited at all times;

“• Prioritize prompt, impartial and  effective investigations into all drugelated killings, particularly by law enforcement officials;

“• Press criminal charges in any case where investigations uncover sufficient, admissible evidence of responsibility for  offenses involving human  rights  violations,  including unlawful police killings.

“We express our sincere hope that you   will consider and express support for these recommendations.”

It’s very difficult to discredit an organization that has bagged a Nobel Prize, and a United Nations prize for its human rights advocacy like Amnesty International. This group has been doing this since the 1960s, long before these people in Malacanang were in the political radar.

What more can I say? Pastilan.