The “alarming” number of state-orchestrated violence against women shows how “abusive the authorities have become” under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, a research and training organization for women said.
“The high number of state-perpetrated violence against women is very alarming. It only reflects how abusive the authorities have become under a regime that sends signal of impunity to its armed forces and blatantly disregards women’s human rights,” Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) executive director Jojo Guan said.
The Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) is currently having an on-going monitoring of state-perpetrated violence against women, which covers the period of January 2017 to July 2018. The institution documented “13 cases of abuses – eight cases of rape, three cases of acts of lasciviousness, one case of harassment, and one case of physical assault.”
According to Guan, more than half of the documented cases are linked to war on drugs and he believes that the anti-drug campaign has become “an excuse for sexual abuse.”
Guan stressed that it is shameful that the Philippine National Police (PNP), the agency tasked by Duterte to lead the drug war, is also involved in sexual abuses against women.
“War on drugs did not solve anything. It did not solve drug addiction and crimes. It is a war waged against the poor and the marginalized. It gave the authorities the license to kill and abuse people, especially women and children,” Guan said.
DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 07/ 11 /18