Human rights for hire

Human rights are universal, applying to all human beings, right? Poor, rich, criminals, police, politicians, businessmen, shop owners, workers, students: everyone is entitled to the recognition and respect of his/her human rights. Human rights law, and law enforcement, exist to protect all.

In the Philippines, the call to respect human rights is being used to impede President Duterte’s war against drugs and criminality. His critics accuse PDU30 of unleashing a national death squad with impunity. Some wonder where civility has gone, when the madness will end, and why most Filipinos lustily cheer news of drug-related killings. Perhaps, as a final blow to the traditional corrupt politicians whose job it was/is to address these same social problems (and, instead, profited from them in the past), most Filipinos see this as the final solution to end the prevalence of drug trafficking, drug-addiction, all sorts of heinous crimes and their umbilical cord to corrupt politicians, government officials, and members of the police, military, and the judiciary.