Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs is ‘large-scale murdering enterprise’, Amnesty says, as the poor are targeted and killed by police

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a “large-scale murdering enterprise” and should be investigated by the United Nations for crimes against humanity, according to a new Amnesty report into his so-called war on drugs.

The drug war is Duterte’s signature initiative and is widely supported by many Filipinos, however the nightly killings by police have provoked international condemnation. The Amnesty report, however, alleged the crackdown has led to a “systematic” campaign of abuses.

In its second report on the crackdown since 2016, Amnesty said targets, mostly poor people, are largely drawn from “drug watch lists”. Those names are supplied by local officials who are “under immense pressure” from police to provide a steady stream of suspects, the London-based monitor said in the report, titled “They Just Kill”.

“Worse still, individuals on watch lists appear to be placed on them indefinitely, with no means of getting delisted, even after they have gone through drug treatment or stopped using drugs,” the report said.

Amnesty said it was impossible to determine how many people have been killed in the campaign, accusing Manila of “deliberate obfuscation and misinformation” that has left victims’ kin feeling helpless.