MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war has remained to be the Philippines’ “gravest human rights concern” in 2019, international watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday. “Four years into the ‘drug war,’ the need for international mechanisms to provide accountability is as great as ever.”The Duterte administration has been criticized for its alleged blatant disregard of human rights in the name of its drug war. “Except for three police officers involved in a highly publicized killing in August 2017, no one has been convicted in any ‘drug war’ killings. Duterte continued to defend the drug war and promised to protect law enforcement officers who killed drug suspects in these raids,” HRW noted. Attacks on the LeftAside from the drug war, HRW also chided the Duterte administration for its supposed attacks on left-leaning groups, which are labeled as members of the communist forces.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer January 15, 2020 05:15 UTC