Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Abas Rodrgo Duterte

                                                                         
"The bloody and chaotic campaign against drugs of President Rodrigo Duterte began when he took office on June 30. Since then, about 2,000 people have been slain at the hands of the police alone. The image above shows the location in 49 Manila killing fields where the bodies of 57 victims have been found  during 35 day investigation by a writer from the New York Times (December 7).
The mania of this modern Dr. Goebbels, is shown by his recent threat to include human rights critics who oppose his killings among his victims."

The Union for Civil Liberty, Thailand, and this website, Death Penalty Thailand unite in condemning the continuing rampage of Rodrigo Duterte against farmers, indigenous peoples, the opposition, critics and independent media in the Philippines. Have done with your violations, and answer to the accusations of independent investigation. We fully support the call of Senator Leila M. de Lima 

From: Sen. Leila  de Lima <senleilamdelima@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 5:14 PM
Subject: STATEMENT OF SENATOR LEILA M. DE LIMA IN SUPPORT OF THE CALL TO ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION INTO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES AND TO EXPEDITE THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
To:


STATEMENT OF SENATOR LEILA M. DE LIMA IN SUPPORT OF THE CALL TO ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION INTO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES AND TO EXPEDITE THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
30 June 2020

The doors of domestic accountability for Rodrigo Duterte and his co- conspirators may have been closed, but the windows of international scrutiny have remained open.

I wholeheartedly join the 31 UN human rights experts in their collective call for the creation of an independent investigation into human rights violations in the Philippines. This clamor came in the wake of the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which she submitted on 4 June 2020 pursuant to Resolution 41/2 of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that was adopted a year ago. That report have validated the findings of the same UN Special Rapporteurs, and various NGOs, fact-finding missions, academicians, and media outfits concerning, among others, the rampant and systematic killings and arbitrary detention in Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs”, the killings and abuses of farmers and indigenous peoples, and the silencing of the opposition, critics and independent media.

Given the magnitude and persistence of the human rights violations in the Philippines, the experts have renewed their call on the UNHRC to establish an on- the-ground independent, impartial investigation into human rights abuses in the country. They have likewise urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to“expedite and prioritize the completion of its preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines.”

It maybe recalled that as early as December 2017, in my message for the International Human Rights Day, I have initiated a similar call upon the UNHRC to dispatch an independent international commission of inquiry or an investigative commission”In my appeals to the preeminent human rights body in their sessions in September 2018 and June 2019, I have reiterated such a call, and added the request “upon the International Criminal Court, through the Prosecutor, to expedite the proceedings before it on the situation in the Philippines.”

These twin calls (for an UNHRC-led investigation, and for expedited ICC process) find cogency and urgency at this time when the pandemic is being used as a cover and excuse by Duterte and his cohorts in further brutalizing, terrorizing and abusing the Filipino people. The mass murder of the poor has continued; the arbitrary arrests of sectoral and community leaders have persisted; the judicial harassment of the opposition and even online critics has exacerbated; and the threats upon the media and the church have remain unabated. This maelstrom of rights abuses continues rampaging amidst Duterte’s ever rising hate language and vitriol that has undoubtedly incited State agents and others to commit repeated acts of violence and abuses.

The High Commissioner’s Report and the joint call of the UN Special Rapporteurs are moral and legal victories that should give impetus to the UNHRC, the ICC and other global instruments of justice (such as the Magnitsky sanctions regime in some governments) to commence their monumental tasks of exacting real accountability, ensuring redress for the victims and their families, and signaling a definitive end to the mass atrocities and other serious violations committed by Duterte, his co-conspirators and accomplices.

#EndImpunityNow #InvestigateDuterte


--
OFFICE OF SENATOR LEILA M. DE LIMA
Room 502, 5th Floor, GSIS Bldg., Financial Center
Pasay City, Philippines
1308

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Update: July 2020

                                             The Death Penalty in Practice
106 countries abolished the death penalty for all crimes
8 countries abolished the death penalty for ordinary crimes only
28 countries are abolitionist in practice
56 countries are retentionist
• In 2019, the 5 countries that carried out most executions were China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Egypt.
(World Coalition against the Death Penalty)


Death Penalty in Thailand
Prison population: Men 331,372; Women 47,971; Total 379,343
Condemned to death: Men 310; Women 53; Total 363
(Corrections Department, 16 June 2020)