MANILA: Outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has announced he will carry on with his “war on drugs” even after the expiry of his term in office next month.
The Philippines has come under pressure from the UN to investigate allegations of systematic killings of drug suspects under the anti-drug campaign, which Duterte has led since assuming power in 2016.
According to official data, Duterte’s war on drugs has led to the deaths of over 6,000 Filipinos, but the International Criminal Court estimates the death toll could be 30,000.
The court’s prosecutors launched an investigation into the anti-drug campaign in September last year, saying it appeared to have been “a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population” and could amount to crimes against humanity.
The probe was suspended two months later to assess a deferral request from the Philippine government and has not resumed since.
As Duterte’s six-year term expires on June 30, he said in a televised meeting with Cabinet members that drugs would make Philippine society “dysfunctional.”
“We can continue this fight even if I am already a civilian,” he said, adding that he would rather see drug lords and drug peddlers “dead than alive.”
“If you destroy my country, it is as if you ended our lives. So, I want drug lords to know I will forever remain your enemy. Remember that.”
Once he leaves office, Duterte will not have the official power to pursue his war on drugs.
“He cannot do that in his official capacity anymore,” the president of the National Union of People’s Lawyers Edre Olalia told Arab News. “But, of course, you and I know that he’s still in power through proxies.”
Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is the running mate of Ferdinand Marcos, who scored a landslide victory in this month’s presidential election and is set to be inaugurated on June 30.
During his presidential campaign, Marcos vowed to continue Duterte’s policies, although he told the media he would also focus on education and rehabilitation in dealing with the country’s drug problems.
For Olalia, the fact that the drug problem still exists proves that Duterte’s approach has not helped address it.
“Otherwise, we will be harvesting the fruits of such an approach, if indeed there was now a lower supply of drugs in the market, fewer drug addicts, and if there were no more drug lords. That’s the best proof that it really is not working.”
Duterte vows to continue ‘war on drugs’ after Philippine presidency
https://arab.news/rfbkr
Duterte vows to continue ‘war on drugs’ after Philippine presidency
- ICC estimates the death toll from the anti-drug campaign could be 30,000
- Rodrigo Duterte’s term will end on June 30
Second Australian dies after suspected Laos alcohol poisoning
- A total of six foreign tourists have now died of suspected methanol poisoning in a backpacker hotspot in northern Laos
“All Australians will be heartbroken by the tragic passing of Holly Bowles,” Penny Wong said in a statement. “Just yesterday, Holly lost her best friend, Bianca Jones.”
“I know tonight all Australians will be holding both families in our hearts,” the foreign minister added.
A total of six foreign tourists have now died of suspected methanol poisoning in a backpacker hotspot in northern Laos.
They were from Australia, Britain, Denmark and the United States.
Many of the victims were in their teens or early twenties and fell sick after a night out in Vang Vieng.
Australian officials are now pressing Laotian authorities for a full and transparent investigation into what happened.
Alcohol tainted with methanol is suspected to be the cause of death.
Methanol is a toxic alcohol used in industrial and household products like antifreeze, photocopier fluids, de-icers, paint thinner, varnish and windshield wiper fluid.
Despite being toxic to humans, it is sometimes used in cheaply made home brew.
At least 10 killed in Afghanistan attack, interior ministry says
- It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack
KABUL: At least 10 people were killed by gunmen in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, Interior Ministry Spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qaniee said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The Taliban took over the country in 2021 and vowed to restore security to the war-torn nation. Attacks have continued, many of them claimed by the local arm of the militant Daesh group.
In September, 14 people were killed and six others injured in an attack claimed by Daesh in central Afghanistan.
China urges ICC to take ‘objective’ position after Netanyahu arrest warrant
- Warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant ‘for crimes against humanity and war crimes’
- China, like Israel and the United States, is not a member of the International Criminal Court
BEIJING: China urged the International Criminal Court on Friday to remain objective and fair after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“China hopes the ICC will uphold an objective and just position (and) exercise its powers in accordance with the law,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in response to a question about the court’s warrant for Netanyahu.
The ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday “for crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed between October 8, 2023, and May 20 this year.
It said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the pair bore “criminal responsibility” for using starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally attacking civilians.
Netanyahu denounced the move as anti-Semitic and the court’s accusations as “absurd and false.”
China, which like Israel and the United States is not a member of the ICC, said it “supports any efforts by the international community on the Palestinian issue that are conducive to achieving fairness and justice and upholding the authority of international law.”
Lin also accused the United States of “double standards” in response to a question about the US opposition to the court’s pursuit of Netanyahu, but its support for a warrant against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“China consistently opposes certain countries only use international law when it suits them... and engaging in double standards,” Lin said.
US President Joe Biden has condemned the warrants against Israeli leaders, calling them “outrageous.”
COP29 host urges collaboration as deal negotiations enter final stage
- Sweeping plan that would see rich nations pledge to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars to help poorer countries grapple with the worsening impacts of global warming
BAKU: COP29 climate summit host Azerbaijan urged participating countries to bridge their differences and come up with a finance deal on Friday, as negotiations at the two-week conference entered their final hours.
World governments represented at the meeting in the Caspian Sea city of Baku are tasked with agreeing a sweeping plan that would see rich nations pledge to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars to help poorer countries grapple with the worsening impacts of global warming.
Economists have said developing countries need at least $1 trillion annually by the end of the decade, but wealthy nations have so far been resisting. Negotiations have also been clouded by uncertainty over the role of the United States, the world’s top historic greenhouse gas emitter, ahead of climate skeptic President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“We encourage parties to continue to collaborate within and across groups with the aim of proposing bridging proposals that will help us to finalize our work here in Baku,” the COP29 presidency said in a note to delegates on Friday morning.
It said a new draft deal would be released at midday in Baku, in the hopes of a deal by the end of the day.
Past COPs have traditionally run over time.
Division and discontent over the negotiations have already spilled into the open, after a fresh deal draft was released by the presidency on Thursday that offered two vastly different options that left no-one happy.
Although the 10-page document was slimmed to less than half the size of the previous versions issued at the summit, it avoided stating the total funds countries would aim to invest each year, leaving the space marked with an “X.”
It also reflected big divisions over issues such as whether funds should be offered as grants or loans, and the degree to which different types of non-public finance should count toward the final annual goal.
“I hope they find the sweet spot with this next iteration,” said Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society, a veteran observer of COP summits. “Anything other than that may require rescheduling flights.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to Baku from a G20 meeting in Brazil on Thursday, calling for a major push to get a deal and warning that “failure is not an option.”
Ireland’s anti-immigration right eyes election gains
- After recession and economic slowdown from 2008, immigration surged again following the coronavirus pandemic
- Some 20 percent of Ireland’s 5.4-million population is now foreign-born
Dublin: The Dublin office of lawyer Malachy Steenson doubles as his election campaign headquarters. Outside is an Irish tricolor and a sign reading: “Take back our nation.”
Inside, Steenson summarised his platform for the November 29 vote. “We need to close the borders and stop any more migrants coming in,” he told AFP.
Ireland is one of the few European Union members without any large established far-right party. But for the first time, immigration has become a frontline election issue.
Steenson, white-haired and 61, is part of an emerging group of ultra-nationalist politicians who performed well at local elections this year and now aim to gain a foothold in parliament.
Elected to Dublin City Council in June, he is running as an independent in the inner-city Dublin Central constituency that is now one of Ireland’s most ethnically diverse.
Most mainstream parties have spent much of the campaign bickering over solutions to Ireland’s acute housing shortage.
But for Steenson, migrants and asylum-seekers are exacerbating that crisis.
“If you import people who are going to sit around on welfare in accommodation that should be available to Irish nationals you’re just creating a bigger problem,” he said.
Ireland’s economy has attracted immigrants since the 1990s when eye-popping growth earned it the “Celtic Tiger” moniker.
After recession and economic slowdown from 2008, immigration surged again following the coronavirus pandemic, plugging job vacancies in booming tech, construction, and hospitality sectors, as well as health care.
Some 20 percent of Ireland’s 5.4-million population is now foreign-born. Official data showed a population increase fueled by migration of around 100,000 in the year to April 2024 — the largest since 2007.
But rapid demographic growth has heaped pressure on housing, services and infrastructure strained by lack of investment, fanning anti-migrant sentiment and hitting still largely favorable attitudes to immigration.
“Immigration is on everyone’s minds,” said Caroline Alwright, a fruit and vegetable stall-owner on Moore Street, a historic city-center market which has become a multicultural meeting place for different nationalities.
“A lot of people will vote for independent candidates, they see what is going on in this country,” said Alwright, 62, a veteran trader nicknamed by customers the “Queen of Moore Street.”
“This street has gone downhill, the country is being robbed blind with money given to people doing nothing on welfare,” she added, gesturing toward a group of Eastern European Romani.
In Kennedy’s pub across the constituency several punters also murmured discontent.
“The buses are full of foreigners, I would vote for anyone saying ‘Ireland is full’ and promising to do something about it,” said Mick Fanning, 74.
Around 110,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, one of the highest numbers per head of population in the EU.
Meanwhile asylum applications have surged to record levels since 2022, with this year’s figures driven by a fourfold increase in people arriving from Nigeria.
The large inflow and the housing crisis has prompted the government to stop providing accommodation to all asylum seekers last year.
That forced hundreds of single male applicants to sleep rough in tents, sparking hostile reactions from some anti-migrant locals.
Ireland has also seen a spike in arson attacks on buildings rumored or earmarked to provide reception centers for asylum seekers.
Last year the largest riot seen in Dublin for decades was triggered by a knife attack on children by an Irish national of immigrant origin.
At the other end of the ward, students at Dublin City University were supportive of immigration.
“We are not full, that’s a closed mindset,” said Carla Keogh, 19, a teaching student.
“If we look into our own past, Irish people left to find help and support in other places, as humans we need to open ourselves up.”
The ultra-nationalist vote is fragmented by micro parties and independents, with few, if any, expected to make an electoral breakthrough.
Anti-immigration votes will rather channel toward moderate independents “who are more outspoken on migration” than more radical options, said political scientist Eoin O’Malley, from Dublin City University.
Most mainstream parties have also pledged to tighten up the asylum system.
The number of arrivals from Ukraine dropped this year after the government slashed allowances and accommodation benefits for newly arrived refugees.
“We were called fascists, racists, far-right, when we proposed the same things two years ago, when in fact we are none of those things,” said Steenson who self-describes as a nationalist.
