Drug war in the Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte, President of the Philippines, is considered a hardliner in the fight against rampant drug trafficking in the Philippines

Slum (poor district) in Manila. There are particularly many problems with drugs in the capital region

The drug war in the Philippines marks an ongoing armed conflict between the Philippine state and the country's numerous drug gangs . The violence between the armed forces of the drug gangs is also part of the conflict.

background

There are an estimated three to four million drug addicts in the Philippines . There are also around 10,000 dealers. Crystal meth is particularly problematic . Especially in the slums around Manila 's drug use widespread. The fact that rampant drug addiction is also known and ostracized by large parts of the population is partly responsible for the election of Rodrigo Duterte as president of the country in 2016 , as Duterte promised in the election campaign to take decisive action against drug trafficking.

Balance sheet and criticism

The number of victims is estimated at around 20,000 after three years. Most of the victims are small dealers, addicts and bystanders from the slums around Manila, as the police, for fear of reprisals by the drug gangs, mostly spared the drug lords. President Duterte's choice of words in connection with the drug war was also widely criticized. For example, the statement “Hitler killed three million Jews. We have three million drug addicts in the Philippines. I would like to kill them. ”, To horror all over the world, because firstly the Holocaust cost the lives not three, but six million Jews and secondly the comparison with the Holocaust was seen as inappropriate and insulting for the victims. Another point of criticism deals with the actions of the police in the fight against drugs, since arrests and in many cases also shootings are carried out at night and without court judgments. There is still the presumption that the police commands, which are often referred to as death squads, kill according to quota, which is denied by the state.

See also

• Mexico drug war
• War on drugs

swell

• Zeit Online: Drug War in the Philippines: Two bullets and no explanation
• ZDF Info: drug war in the Philippines
• Tagesspiegel: Massive criticism of Duterte's deadly anti-drug policy
• FAZ: President in a blood frenzy

Web links

Commons : Drug War in the Philippines  - Pictures, Videos and Audio Files Collection

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Philippines: Duterte takes Holocaust as a model for anti-drug campaign - zeit.de , accessed on October 3, 2019