Philippines not serious about probing war on drugs

By Marvin Joseph Ang / Yahoo! news

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement on Thursday (September 8) said that there’s “no compelling evidence” that could show that the Philippines is serious about investigating, let alone prosecuting, those that were responsible for the killings of the past administration’s war on drugs.

The statement comes after the Philippine government, represented by the Solicitor General, submitted its comment before the pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing that the ICC and its prosecutor, Karim Khan, no longer have jurisdiction over the Philippines.

“Since the Philippines first sought a halt to the prosecutor’s investigation last November, Human Rights Watch has monitored the situation and found no compelling evidence that the government was seriously investigating these cases, let alone prosecuting those responsible,” HRW’s Senior Philippines Researcher, Carlos Conde, said.