[ad_1]
The government’s report to the United Nations acknowledging critical flaws in the Duterte administration’s drug war provided fresh ammunition for its critics, and a group of lawyers said it merely served as a “smokescreen” that blamed officers. humble police officers while protecting high-ranking officials. ups who were the “main facilitators” of the extrajudicial executions.
In a video message to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) on Wednesday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who leads an inter-agency panel reviewing the war on drugs, said that half of police operations covered for the review “they did not follow the standard protocols related to coordination with other agencies and crime scene processing.”
He pointed to the claim made by the Philippine National Police that many drug suspects were killed because “they resisted arrest or tried to pull out a weapon and fight back.”
“However, no full examination of the recovered weapon was carried out. No verification was made of your property. No request for ballistic examination or paraffin test was processed until its completion, ”said Guevarra.
recommendations
But he assured the council that the appropriate state agencies had been addressing the report’s findings and that several police officers had been recommended to be prosecuted.
“It is now the immediate task of the review panel to ensure that appropriate disciplinary authorities have complied with and carried out these recommendations, and that steps are taken to minimize loss of life during legitimate illegal drug enforcement operations.” Guevarra said.
Guevarra made the presentation at the 46th regular session of the HRC, which opened on February 22 and will close on March 23.
The council holds at least three regular sessions each year to assess the human rights situation in the United Nations member states.
‘Standard protocols’
In reaction to the report, the president of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), Edre Olalia, said that “to avoid[d] the fundamental and most crucial question: Why did these extrajudicial executions (EJK) occur in the first place and why do they continue with impunity?
He said the report “consciously or unconsciously deflects the main and sole blame from lowly police officers while isolating and saving the main EJK facilitators.”
It was President Duterte and other senior officials who “incited, tolerated, sanctioned, condoned and justified the EJK,” he said.
“More than fancy rhetoric and seemingly smokescreen findings, the government report must be accompanied by concrete and measurable resources or accountability mechanisms for the victims,” he said.
Don’t be fooled
Butch Olano, Amnesty International-Philippines section director, said the Philippines report was surprising to some extent and was full of “astonishing contradictions”.
“While affirming that the country’s legal and judicial systems function as they should, [Guevarra] openly admitted that the PNP did not process crime scenes and did not examine the weapons allegedly used by [drug]suspects, or carry out other basic protocols in anti-drug operations in the last four years ”.
Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said that “at best, the attorney general’s statement … shows that both the Justice Department and the high-ranking police were asleep in the switch as the murders of the war on drugs accelerated and intensified. “
HRW-Geneva Director John Fisher said that “the attorney general tried to show that his findings are proof of what he called ‘accountability mechanisms in place.’
“Concerned governments must not be fooled by this unconvincing attempt to prevent an investigation by the Human Rights Council,” Fisher added.
‘Stable work’
For Malacañang, the report of the review panel led by Guevarra “attests to the vitality of the national processes of accountability in the country, which defend peace, justice and human rights as interrelated objectives.”
“[This] it is proof for the whole world that, contrary to the assertions of our critics at the national and international level, we are fulfilling our state obligation to investigate and prosecute violations of the right to life, “said presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
“[This is] because we face the truth that there may be some law enforcement officers who are held accountable under our laws here in the Philippines, ”added Roque. —WITH A REPORT FROM JEROME ANING
Read next
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer and more than 70 other titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download from 4am and share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
For comments, complaints or inquiries, please contact us.
[ad_2]
