UN rights chief calls for end to policies, rhetoric that lead to abuses and killings in Philippines

By Philstar Global

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government needs to revoke policies and rhetoric that lead to killings and other human rights violations, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Monday.

In her opening statement at the 45th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Bachelet called for the upholding of human rights principles, norms and actions that she said will bring better social, economic and political stability.

Those principles include social protections, as well as institutions that promote respect for the views and rights of all members of society as well as policies that "require accountable policing and access to justice help to avert the escalation of tensions and grievances into violence and conflict."

Referring to the the UN rights office's work in the Philippines, Bachelet acknowledged that the Department of Justice committed in June to review 5,655 anti-illegal drug operations where "drug personalities" were killed. The government has repeatedly said that extrajudicial killings are not government policy and that the dead "drug personalities" forced law enforcement personnel to shoot back and kill them.