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HRW urges independent probe into Duterte's role in extrajudicial killings

The Philippine government should invite an independent investigation involving the United Nations ‎into allegations of direct involvement by President Rodrigo Duterte in extrajudicial killings, Human ‎Rights Watch said on Friday.  On September 15, 2016, an admitted former “hit man,” Edgar Matobato, ‎testified at a Philippine Senate hearing about the alleged killings of about 1,000 people in Davao City ‎involving Duterte, who was the city’s mayor for more than two decades.   “The detailed testimony ‎from a ‘death squad’ member that then-Mayor Duterte was personally involved in killings and ordered ‎others are very serious allegations that require an independent investigation,” said Brad Adams, Asia ‎director at Human Rights Watch.  “President Duterte can’t be expected to investigate himself, so it is ‎crucial that the United Nations is called in to lead such an effort. Otherwis...

The Philippine government should invite an independent investigation involving the United Nations ‎into allegations of direct involvement by President Rodrigo Duterte in extrajudicial killings, Human ‎Rights Watch said on Friday.  On September 15, 2016, an admitted former “hit man,” Edgar Matobato, ‎testified at a Philippine Senate hearing about the alleged killings of about 1,000 people in Davao City ‎involving Duterte, who was the city’s mayor for more than two decades.   “The detailed testimony ‎from a ‘death squad’ member that then-Mayor Duterte was personally involved in killings and ordered ‎others are very serious allegations that require an independent investigation,” said Brad Adams, Asia ‎director at Human Rights Watch.  “President Duterte can’t be expected to investigate himself, so it is ‎crucial that the United Nations is called in to lead such an effort. Otherwise, Filipinos may never know ‎if the president was directly responsible for extrajudicial killings,” Adams said.‎

Since Duterte took office on June 30, more than 2,000 people have been killed in his self-proclaimed ‎‎“war on drugs.” The most recent Philippine National Police data shows that from July 1 to September 4, ‎police killed an estimated 1,011 suspected “drug pushers and users,” more than 14 times the 68 such ‎police killings recorded between January 1 and June 15. Police blame the killings on suspects who ‎‎“resisted arrest and shot at police officers,” but refuse to launch an investigation into the deaths.‎

In 2009, Human Rights Watch published “‘You Can Die Any Time’: Death Squad Killings in ‎Mindanao,” which details the involvement of police and local government officials in targeted death ‎squad killings in Davao City during Duterte’s time as mayor. Another Human Rights Watch report ‎from 2014, “‘One Shot to the Head’: Death Squad Killings in Tagum City, Philippines,” documents ‎police involvement in what appeared to be a copycat policy of extrajudicial killings in a city close to ‎Davao City. (Source: HRW)

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