MANILA, Philippines—A Philippine human rights group appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to heed Iceland’s call to investigate unwarranted killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody antidrug campaign and take to task those behind them. Christina Palabay, secretary-general of the human rights group Karapatan (Right), said UNHRC should “push for accountability.”ADVERTISEMENTPalabay, in a statement issued by her group on Friday (July 5), said Duterte and enforcers of his antidrug campaign should be held accountable. Palabay said as Duterte enters the halfway mark of his rule, “criminality remains” and only the poor are killed either in police operations that often turn bloody or gangland-style street executions. Karapatan condemned the death of 3-year-old Myca Ulpina, who was shot in a crossfire between police officers and suspected drug pushers during a buy-bust operation in Rodriguez, Rizal on June 30. Recent records from the Philippine National Police (PNP) showed that the drug war death toll has reached 6,600 from July 2016 to May 2019.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer July 05, 2019 10:41 UTC