‘Drug war lacks moral, legal basis’

Sen. Leila de Lima, leading domestic critic of the Duterte administration’s “war on drugs,” urges the international community to keep condemning the “murderous” antidrug campaign. AFP

MANILA – The Duterte government’s “war on drugs” lacks moral and legal justification, according to Sen. Leila de Lima.

De Lima, President Rodrigo Duterte’s tough critic detained on drug charges, said the Philippines needs a different approach to drug policy as she called on the international community to keep condemning the “murderous” antidrug crackdown in the country.

Duterte failed to see the drug problem as a public health issue, she said in a message read at the 61st Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drug in Vienna, Austria.

“He (Duterte) is bent on resolving the drug problem in his own unjustified way, at the expense of the rule of law and human rights and despite the lessons learned by countries which adopted the same hard stance against the drug menace and failed,” de Lima said.

According to de Lima, around 13,000 fell victims to extrajudicial killings since Duterte launched the tough crackdown on drugs.

“How many more lives are going to be cut short? How many more Filipino families are going to suffer?” she said.

Despite the continuing death toll, only a handful of people have been prosecuted, said de Lima.

“It fails to target, as part of an integrated and comprehensive approach, the middle and big operational layers of the problem,” she said.

“Big time drug suppliers remain scot-free” and people “close to Duterte” were linked to the shipment of billions of pesos worth of illegal drugs, the senator added.

De Lima called on the public to work “against Duterte’s immoral and illegal war on drugs.”

“Let us all say ‘No’ to extrajudicial killings … and demand accountability for this government’s failure to adhere to the rule of law and human rights,” she said./PN

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