Southeast Asia faces massive drugs menace: Duterte
Philippine president insists that ‘outsiders’ should not interfere in the region’s affairs
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Southeast Asian leaders yesterday they were facing a “massive” illegal drug menace that could destroy their societies, as he called for a united response.
Duterte, who has faced international condemnation for his own crackdown on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives, also insisted that outsiders should not interfere in Southeast Asia’s affairs.
“The illegal drug trade is massive, but it is not impregnable,” Duterte said in a speech to open an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders summit.
“With political will and cooperation, it can be dismantled. It can be destroyed before it destroys our societies.”
Duterte urged the leaders to be “resolute in realising a drugfree Asean”.
Duterte was elected last year largely on a law-and-order platform in which he promised to eradicate illegal drugs in the Philippines by killing tens of thousands of people.
His pledge proved wildly popular with millions of Filipinos looking for a quick solution to crime and corruption.
Since Duterte took office 10 months ago, police have reported killing 2,724 people as part of his anti-drug campaign.
Many thousands of others have been killed by shadowy vigilantes, according to rights groups.
A Filipino lawyer filed a complaint this week against Duterte at the International Criminal Court, accusing him of “mass murder” and alleging that as many as 8,000 people had died in the drug war. Duterte has relentlessly railed against criticism of his drug war.