CHR alarmed over Duterte’s proposed ‘death squad’

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday raised concern over the government’s proposal to create a death squad that will match the New People’s Army’s Sparrow Unit.

“The Commission on Human Rights expresses alarm over plans of [the] government to create a death squad meant to target suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA),“ CHR Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit said in a statement.

This was after President Rodrigo Duterte said he wanted to create a death squad, which he named the “Duterte Death Squad,” to counter the NPA Sparrow Unit.

READ: Duterte wants to create ‘death squad’ to counter NPA’s Sparrow Unit

The CHR said the proposal was “not within the law” and would violate “human rights, due process, and right to life.”

The human rights agency also cited the Constitution, which notes that no person — regardless of being an NPA— must be denied of their rights.

“The Constitution also guarantees that no person shall be denied equal protection of the laws. As such, we expect the government to uphold its obligations to protect these rights, including making perpetrators of crimes accountable before our courts — may they be members of NPA or not,” Dumpit said. /ee