Drug users aren’t human: Duterte

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is waging a bloody war on crime, has justified the large-scale killing of drug users by suggesting the victims were not human.

Duterte, who has seen about two thousand people killed since he was elected in May, made the remarks late Friday as he shrugged off the United Nations’ concerns over human rights in his country.

“Crime against humanity? In the first place, I’d like to be frank with you: Are they humans? What is your definition of a human being?” he told soldiers while visiting an army camp, according to transcripts of his speech released afterwards.

“Human rights? Use it properly in the right context if you have the brains,” he added.

“You cannot wage a war without killing,” Duterte said, adding that many drug users were beyond rehabilitation.

His remarks came after various UN officials, including SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon in June condemned his apparent support for extra-judicial killings.

The UN special rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, said earlier this month that his directives “amount to incitement to violence and killing, a crime under international law.”

Duterte’s comments come after his national police chief Ronald Dela Rosa on Friday urged drug users to kill their traffickers and burn their homes.

“Why don’t you give them a visit, pour gasoline on their homes and set these on fire to register your anger,” Dela Rosa said.

He later apologized for his remarks.

But Duterte defended Dela Rosa, saying, “that’s my style. He is following it.”

Duterte also taunted the United Nations, saying “they want me to go prison? Do those idiots think I will be captured alive. My God, we will be together in hell.”