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[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Wednesday accused [HRW report] police in the Philippines of falsifying evidence to justify killings in the country's war on drugs. President Rodrigo Duterte [CNN profile] has conducted a large scale war on drugs in the Philippines, including sanctioned killings of anyone who sells or uses drugs in the nation, according to the rights group. The report highlights practices by the police of falsifying evidence including planting drugs, guns and spent ammunition at crime scenes. The government has reportedly not charged a single police officer over any of the killings.
The violent war on drugs in the Philippines has been an ongoing issue since Duterte was elected President in May 2016. In February HRW urged the Philippines to drop political charges [JURIST report] against someone who had spoken out against Duterte's war on drugs. Advocacy groups have repeatedly spoken out against the extrajudicial killings that have claimed over 7,000 lives in the country. In January Duterte announced the suspension [JURIST report] of the controversial anti-drug campaign. In November it was announced that Duterte considered leaving [JURIST report] the International Criminal Court to avoid any prosecution over the sanctioned killings in his country.
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