{"id":150486,"date":"2018-02-01T04:38:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T09:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=150486"},"modified":"2018-02-01T04:38:14","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T09:38:14","slug":"hrw-renews-need-for-un-probe-as-pnp-resumes-anti-drug-ops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/01\/hrw-renews-need-for-un-probe-as-pnp-resumes-anti-drug-ops\/","title":{"rendered":"HRW renews need for UN probe as PNP resumes anti-drug ops"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: In its dispatch, HRW said that the government should support a UN-led probe would clarify the difference in the official and independent estimates of killings in the crackdown against illegal drugs and facilitate accountability for the supposed unlawful deaths. (Photo: hrw.org<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Human Rights Watch (HRW) reiterated its call for an \u201curgent\u201d United Nations-led investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings linked to the government\u2019s war on drugs as \u201cOplan Tokhang\u201d was relaunched on Monday.<\/p>\n

In its dispatch, HRW said that the government should support a UN-led probe would clarify the difference in the official and independent estimates of killings in the crackdown against illegal drugs and facilitate accountability for the supposed unlawful deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe glaring disparity between the Philippine government\u2019s official death toll and those of credible independent observers underscores the urgent need for a UN-led independent investigation into killings since the drug war began in June 2016,\u201d HRW\u2019s deputy Asia director Phelim Kine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should welcome a UN effort to establish an impartial and verifiable death toll as a crucial first step in accountability for wrongful deaths,\u201d Kine added.<\/p>\n

Human rights advocates estimate more than 12,000 killings related to the anti-drug campaign.<\/p>\n

However, Philippine National Police (PNP) assert that 3,968 drug suspects died in \u201clegitimate police operations\u201d from July 2016 to January 17 this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy any measure, even the PNP\u2019s estimate of drug war deaths is an alarming number of killings that warrant an independent investigation,\u201d HRW said.<\/p>\n

HRW added that PNP Director-General Ronald dela Rosa has vowed for \u201ctransparent\u201d anti-drug operations, saying that the \u201cmistakes of the past will no longer be repeated.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the human rights watchdogs noted that lack of accountability for the drug war deaths calls for investigations.<\/p>\n

HRW also urged UN member countries at the Human Rights Council to lead an inquiry into the supposed killings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Philippine government can either seek UN assistance to investigate abuses in its anti-drug campaign or be the subject of a UN Human Rights Council resolution creating an investigatory body to do the job,\u201d Kine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, those responsible for drug war murders will be brought to justice. The question for Philippine officials is whether they want to be assisting the prosecutor or facing one,\u201d Kine added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, Philippines \u2014 Human Rights Watch (HRW) reiterated its call for an \u201curgent\u201d United Nations-led investigation into the alleged extrajudicial …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":150550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[11147,45497,34693,13788,18681,20223,1746],"class_list":["post-150486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-extrajudicial-killings","tag-hrws-deputy-asia-director-phelim-kine","tag-human-rights-watch-hrw","tag-oplan-tokhang","tag-philippine-national-police-pnp","tag-pnp-director-general-ronald-dela-rosa","tag-united-nations","mauthors-carlo-jacob-molina","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}