Will Trump condemn the killing squads in Philippines’ war on drugs?

In the less than six months since Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines last June and launched his war on drug users, nearly 6,000 people have been killed.

Of those, 2,086 are said to have been killed in police raids and another 3,841 were reportedly gunned down “vigilante style” by unknown attackers. The latter type of killings normally is committed by two men riding in tandem on motorcycles.

{mosads}President Duterte himself has acknowledged, or even claimed credit, for all these killings to prove he is determined to rid the Philippines of the drug trade. He has boasted that, “I used to do it personally.” As the Mayor of Davao City, he was known for leading death squads.

Though we have only his word for it, President Duterte claims that he was encouraged to keep up this campaign when he spoke to President-elect Donald Trump. Given the gravity of the offenses of which Duterte brags, which constitute crimes against humanity under international law, it is important that we should hear what Trump has to say about their conversation.

As Duterte talks up his killings, some of his aides seem to want to put a different face on the killings. They have claimed that drug users killed by the police are responsible for their own deaths because the drug dealers or users fought back against the police; and that the so-called vigilante killings are not attributable to the police. Neither of these claims stands up to scrutiny.

There are at least two reasons to dismiss the claim that the killings attributed to the police came about because the victims fought back.

First, if there had been fights, not all the deaths would be those of the alleged drug users. When fighting takes place between criminals and the police, some police get killed. The number of police killed may not be as large as the number killed by the police, but it tends to be substantial.

But the Philippine authorities have not reported any upsurge in the number of police killed.

Second, when armed confrontations take place, whether in military conflicts or street fights, there tends to be more wounded — on both sides — than the number of those actually killed. Yet the Philippine authorities have not reported an increase in injuries, either to alleged criminals or to police.

When all, or almost all, shootings in a struggle result in deaths, and when all or almost all are on one side, it is clear what is taking place.  

These are executions.

Those being executed are under the control of those doing the killing. They have been apprehended, or they have surrendered, and then they have been killed. As for vigilante killings, here too there would be more injuries than deaths if the victims were not under the control of the killers when shootings take place.

There is also a strong reason for doubting that the killers are independent of the police. If they were independent, there would be a significant number of cases in which the “vigilantes” were apprehended by the police either as the killings were taking place or soon thereafter in response to immediate outcries. The killers would not all escape.

If they are never, or hardly ever, apprehended, it means they are themselves members of the police posing as vigilantes; or they are known to the police, and they are cooperating with the police, who make sure that they get away.

President Duterte’s own public statements indicate a willingness not to paper over his direct responsibility for the slaughter in the Philippines. On the contrary, he seems proud of his leadership in a campaign of mass murder.

We need to know whether the president-elect endorsed mass murder.

Aryeh Neier is president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations, which funds a range of programs around the world to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people. He was president of that organization from 1993 to 2012. Before that, Neier served for 12 years as executive director of Human Rights Watch, of which he was a founder in 1978.