GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations on Tuesday condemned the killing of nine activists in the Philippine assassination of suspected insurgents and urged authorities to avoid rhetoric that could lead to human rights violations.
Rights groups have accused President Rodrigo Duterte of encouraging a repression of activists to silence contradictions and target his opponents, under the guise of intensified counter-insurgency against Mao rebels.
His government said the killings on Sunday were lawful and lawful operations, but promised a full investigation.
“We are deeply concerned that these latest killings indicate an increase in violence, intimidation and harassment of ‘human rights defenders’,” said UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani in Geneva.
An influential church group on Monday expressed concern over the killings and concerns about ‘red labels’ or branding opponents as communists or terrorists to justify it.
Rights groups said those killed on Sunday were activists, not fighters.
Their death came two days after Duterte told security forces that they could kill communist rebels if they held a gun and to ‘ignore human rights’.
Activists said the raids were reminiscent of thousands of deadly police operations under Duterte’s bloody anti-drug abuse, in which police said all the victims were armed and that they had been arrested.
Critics accuse Duterte of openly encouraging police to kill drug suspects. His office rejects it.
Shamdasani urged police to “take urgent measures to prevent the use of excessive force” and the government and security forces to “refrain from rhetoric that could lead to violations”.
Shamdasani said an investigation should be “done with a view to accountability”.
“The fact remains that most perpetrators of these human rights violations to this day are unpunished,” she said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay in Geneva; writing by Karen Lema; editing by Martin Petty)