GENEVA - The United Nations' top human rights body voted on Thursday to examine thousands of alleged extrajudicial police killings linked to President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs in the Philippines, a campaign that rights groups around the world have denounced as a lawless atrocity. The United Nations' 47-member Human Rights Council supported a resolution advanced by Iceland that turned a spotlight on wide-ranging abuses, including killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and persecution of rights activists, journalists, lawyers and members of the political opposition. [continues 694 words]
1,140 Dead In A Month As Fear Stalks Nation Six weeks shy of his ninth birthday Chakkapan Srisa-ard achieved a notoriety he could never have expected. He died, caught in gunfire during a police sting operation in Bangkok, a victim of a bloody government war on drugs that is coming under increasing scrutiny. Chakkapan's death came after his father was arrested making a drug delivery to undercover agents. When his mother tried to escape in the family car, police opened fire. Chakkapan, hit in the back, died on the spot. Police have arrested three officers but they say they fired in the air and the fatal shots came from a gang member on a motorcycle. [continues 894 words]
