Crackdown on drugs in the Philippines involves extrajudicial killings

Human rights and faith groups are speaking out against extrajudicial killings in the Philippines linked to the new president’s antidrug campaign.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines released a statement in early September decrying both the harm caused by illegal drugs and the execution of alleged drug dealers without trial.

“The continuing killings shake our confidence in the ability of the government to uphold basic human rights and legal processes which are hallmarks of our Constitution,” leaders of the NCCP’s ten member churches wrote. “We cannot go on with this impunity.”