Editorial photo #2972610 Unrest, Conflicts and War

Philippines War on Drugs Continue

Child scavengers take a break at Happyland slum community, where many murders attributed to the drug war have taken place, in Manila, Philippines, April 4, 2018. More than 27,000 have been killed as a result of a two-year war on drugs in the Philippines. In 2016, Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Southeast Asian republic. His campaign promise to fight drugs with any means won him the election: he threatened those connected to the drug trade with death, called for vigilante justice, and allowed the police to act with brutality. Human rights groups and local media have reported that dealers, users, petty criminals, and even local politicians, priests, as well as plenty of innocent people and children were murdered. The United Nations have appealed in vain to the Philippine government to investigate extrajudicial killings and to prosecute the perpetrators, while the International Criminal Court has begun preliminary inquiries into the violent acts carried out in the Philippines as well as the questionable methods of Duterte and the police. Photo: Ezra Acayan/NurPhoto (Photo by Ezra Acayan/NurPhoto)