The latest report of the United Nations shows that the poor neighborhood and individuals have been disproportionately affected in the anti-narcotics campaign in the Philippines.
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recently released a report saying that the poor neighborhood and individuals “have been disproportionately affected” by the anti drug war of the Duterte administration.
The committee has also urged the Philippine government to take necessary measures to ensure that its relentless war against narcotics does not affect or discriminate the poor and marginalized.
The report read, “The Committee on deeply concerned that declarations made by high-ranking officials in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ may bee seen to encourage and legitimize violence against drug users, including extrajudicial killings”.
“Indeed, the number of extrajudicial killings of drug suspects has drastically increased in recent months and a large number of people have been arrested and detained in already overcrowded prisons”, it added.
“The Committee urges the State to stop and recent extrajudicial killings and any form of violence against drug users; to promptly an thoroughly investigate all reported cases and punish the perpetrators with sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the crime; and to take all necessary measures to ensure that the fight against drug trafficking does not have a discriminatory impact on the poor and marginalized”, the report recommended.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights also called on the Philippine government to reconsider the criminalization of drug dependents, saying that it hindered them from receiving treatment and rehabilitation from “treatment centers that incorporates evidence0based health services, such as opioid substitution therapies”.
It said that the government should instead adopt a “right-to-health approach to drug abuse with hard reduction strategies, such as syringe exchange programs; and increase the availability of treatment services that are evidence-based and respectful of the rights of drug users”.
The United Nations, including the United States and the European Union, have been repeatedly lambasted by President Rodrigo Duterte because of their call to stop the extrajudicial killings which continued to grow in number as the anti drug war continues.