CHR: Accountability for violations necessary for anti-drug campaign reform

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday welcomed the government's new strategy in the fight against illegal drugs while also calling for an investigation into claims of abuses by the authorities.
 
The Marcos administration recently launched the “Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawan” or BIDA program, which seeks to fight the drug problem through demand reduction and rehabilitation of persons who use illegal drugs.
 
“Genuine reform and policy shift also necessitate ascertaining [the] accountability of all perpetrators, including police personnel and liable officials, who are allegedly involved in killings related to the drug campaign in the previous and current administrations,” the CHR said in a statement.

“Parallel, sustained efforts in resolving the thousands of drug-related killings will demonstrate the government’s seriousness in giving justice to victims and curbing impunity.”

The commission said there is a need to “re-orient and retrain” police personnel to prevent any form of abuse or violation.

The CHR also backed “a holistic, multi-sectoral, and human rights-based approach” to tackling the root causes of the drug problem in the country.
 
"Through faithful adoption of rights-based perspectives, this approach can help ensure the physical, psychological, and social capability of persons who use drugs, thus reducing their propensity to resort to drugs in coping with problems and life challenges,” the CHR said.
 
“The acceptability and quality of intended interventions must also be ascertained to ensure compliance with standards in upholding the right to health. This includes access to voluntary and evidence-based services [for] treating drug use as a health condition. Similarly, the use of a watch list must be eliminated, as this entails surveillance, which negates the right to due process and the right to privacy and confidentiality,” it added.
 
The CHR said it expects “faithful implementation and rights-based adherence” to the government’s program.
 
Former President Rodrigo Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the International Criminal Court, in 2018, with the withdrawal taking effect in 2019, after the ICC began a preliminary probe into the allegations of state sanctioned killings in his war on drugs.
 
The Philippines earlier called on the ICC not to resume its investigation into Duterte's deadly drug war, insisting the tribunal has no jurisdiction.
 
Government records showed that at least 6,200 drug suspects had been killed in police operations from June 2016 until November 2021. Several human rights groups, however, claimed the actual death toll was around 12,000 to 30,000. — VBL, GMA Integrated News