Help Not Handcuffs Cohosts Crimes Against Humanity Public UN Event On Thursday
Panel Calls For ICC Intervention in Philippine Mass Murders
Asbury Park based Help Not Handcuffs has joined close to 25 organizations in a fight to end the killings being done under Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s reign.
Thompson before the United Nations Informal Interactive Stakeholder Consultation in February 2016
Elected to office in May 2016, Duterte pledged to kill those involved in drug and criminal activity. Human rights organizations documented alleged death squad killings drug users, petty criminals and children who work on the street.
“The estimated number of killings is 14,000 since President Duterte became president, having campaigned on a promise to kill 3 million drug users and to protect those that kill them,” Help Not Handcuffs Founder Randy Thompson said.
Help Not Handcuffs works to help reform drug policy from a recovery and human rights perspective. They have participated in UN policy discussions as a guest member of Harm Reduction Coalition and Students for Sensible Drug Policy delegations, and were granted special consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC] in September.
Now, Help Not Handcuffs and Students for Sensible Drug Policy have joined forces to organize the public event – The Need for International Criminal Court Intervention in Extrajudicial Killings for Drug Offenses, being held 1 p.m. Thursday at the Church Center for the United Nations, located at 777 United Nations Plaza in New York.
The event is in conjunction with the ICC’s Assembly of State Parties – 16th Session convening at the United Nations Headquarters, Thompson said.
Thompson with former U.N. President of the General Assembly, H.E. Mogens Lykketoft in February 2016
“During the ASP issues pertinent to the functioning of the court and achieving its goals of ending impunity and holding accountable those most responsible for the gravest of crimes, are discussed and acted upon,” Thompson said. “The event aims to highlight the urgent need for ICC intervention in the Philippines where 14,000 people have been murdered extra judiciously in the 18 months since President Rodrigo Duterte was elected.”
The panel includes speakers from the fields of international human rights, public policy, Philippine Students, Philippine attorneys and Philippine ICC Coordinators, he said.
They include Thompson; Jake Agliata of Students for Sensible Drug Policy; Rebecca Lozada, National Coordinator of Philippine National Coalition for the ICC; Attorney Joel Butuyan of Centerlaw in the Philippines; Alison A. Smith, Legal Counsel and Director of the International Criminal Justice Program No Peace Without Justice Student Ambassadors; Students for Sensible Drug Policy Akbayan Youth of the Philippines; and Sanho Tree Fellow and Director of the Drug Policy Project and Institute for Policy Studies.
“President Duterte ran on a promise to kill people who use or are involved with drugs, as well as promising to protect those who murder the targeted population,” Thompson said.
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