Philippine President: Drug users are not human

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said it was normal to kill drug addicts because to him they were not human.

An activist on August 24 stood in front of the Philippine National Police headquarters and held a placard protesting extrajudicial killings linked to President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug campaign. Photo: AFP

"Crimes against humanity? First of all, I have to be frank with you: Are they human beings? What is your definition of human beings?" AFP quoted Mr. Duterte as saying yesterday during a visit to a military camp.

"Human rights? Use it appropriately in the right context if you have a brain. You cannot wage a war without killing," President Duterte said, adding that many drug addicts were irredeemable.

The above comment was made by Mr. Duterte after Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa on August 26 called on drug users to kill traffickers of this banned substance and burn their houses.

Although Chief Rosa later apologized for his remarks, President Duterte defended him, saying "that's my style. He just followed it."

According to police figures, 1,900 people have died in drug-related incidents in the Philippines since Mr. Duterte officially became president in late June. Of those, 657 were killed by police.

A series of United Nations officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have condemned Mr. Duterte's support for extrajudicial killings in his anti-drug campaign.

According to VNE