EU solons call on Phl gov’t to end EJKs

MANILA — The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Philippine government to put an end to the brutal war on drugs that has killed thousands and remove human rights defenders included in the government petition seeking to declare more than 600 individuals as terrorists.

Members of the European Parliament passed the resolution Thursday evening (Manila time) by a “large majority,” the Party of European Socialists said in a statement.

Condemning the high number of extrajudicial killings by security forces and vigilante groups, the European Parliament urged the Philippines to put an immediate end to the killings in the pretext of the government’s antinarcotics campaign.

It stressed that the government must prioritize eliminating drug trafficking networks and big drug barons over tracking down small-scale consumers and must focus on a public health approach to combat the illicit drug problem.

The parliament said it “calls on the authorities of the Philippines to immediately carry out impartial and meaningful investigations into these extrajudicial killings and to prosecute and bring all perpetrators to justice.”

Individuals and organizations both at home and abroad have criticized President Rodrigo Duterte for his ferocious “war on drugs,” which has claimed over 12,000 lives, according to human rights watchdogs.

The government, however, dispute these numbers and counts a little over 4,000 “drug personalities” killed in police operations.

The same resolution reiterated the parliament’s call to release Sen. Leila De Lima, who has been detained for more than a year over drug-related charges.

It also urged the Philippine government to remove human rights defenders, including United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, from the terrorist list the Justice department filed in February and allow the entry of persons perceived as critics of President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies.