For Immediate Release, 12/9/22 Contact: David Borden, [email protected]
NEW REPORT: Dangerous Delays: What Washington (Re)Teaches Us About Cash and Cannabis Store Robberies
First published study on characteristics of marijuana store robberies demonstrates connections between lack of banking access and violent crime in dispensaries in Washington State.
Washington, DC: A timely new report by David Borden of StoptheDrugWar.org has confirmed that cash is the leading driver of armed robberies targeting cannabis stores. The report, "Dangerous Delays," also finds that cash ties in to aggression and violence harming workers.
Dangerous Delays is the first published study on characteristics of cannabis store robberies. Its findings and discussion present a compelling picture, with associated data, for interested parties and Congress to consider in relation to the SAFE Banking Act.
The report draws on the listings in the "Uncle Ike's i502 Robbery Tracker" to generate the data used in its statistical analysis. Uncle Ike's is a Seattle-based cannabis store chain that has compiled reports of robberies of cannabis stores since 2017. But tragic events which began in fall 2021 make it especially relevant now. As the Dangerous Delays report notes:
"While SAFE was stalling in the Senate [last year], Washington State's cannabis community was in the grip of an unprecedented surge in armed robberies of cannabis stores. This occurrence, which began in November 2021 and lasted 4 ½ months, saw nearly 100 reported robberies affect roughly 80 cannabis stores, and ended with three people dead."
Dangerous Delays delves into questions using descriptive statistics about property targeted, areas of stores targeted, and documented aggression categories; and inferential statistical analysis testing possible relationships between robbery types and aggression.
Motivated by recurring reports about robbers seeking cash from the safe in the back of the store – a trigger for violence when employees don't know the combination – the study divides robberies by whether they targeted the back of the store or were limited to the front. The study also examines how often different types of property are targeted.
The report draws several key conclusions, including:
Based on current incentives, there is little reason to believe that robberies targeting the back of a store will continue (as opposed to burglaries), or continue at the same level, if cash is removed from the equation. The great majority of such robberies are aimed at accessing cash in the safe, and without cash or with much less of it, that will no longer be lucrative.
There will also be much less incentive to target the cash register at the front of the store, in the absence of strong profits there. Those are roughly half of the documented front-store robberies on Uncle Ike's. There's little reason to believe that front-store robberies targeting only cash will continue in that scenario.
Data finds few examples of product-only robberies (as opposed to burglaries which are mainly product-only). That may suggest product alone does not provide enough incentive to sustain interest in doing robberies, particularly because burglary is a viable option to obtain the same product. If so, then robberies targeting both cash and product may cease as well.
"Given what happened in Washington – which could happen again – it would be wholly unjustifiable for Congress to again put off enacting some form of the SAFE Banking Act," said Borden.
"But there will be more left to do after Congress passes SAFE, for the robberies problem to be thoroughly addressed," Borden continued. "One remaining piece is to specifically greenlight purchase transactions, which is how cash enters the system. The current language of SAFE explicitly addresses only depository banking."
Whoever wins in the May 8 Philippine election, a coalition of prominent Filipinos and allies aims to tighten the screws on officials responsible for extrajudicial killings and the unjust imprisonment of Senator and reelection candidate Leila de Lima.
2018 DC protest of Senator de Lima's unjust incarceration
The coalition is preparing detailed submissions for agencies at the US State and Treasury Departments that implement individually-targeted sanctions against persons suspected of human rights violations or financial corruption. The laws authorizing these sanctions, of which the Global Magnitsky Act is the most well-known, allow for banning travel to the US by designated individuals and sometimes their immediate family members, and can be used to freeze assets held in US financial institutions.
The coalition will also submit the information to new Magnitsky programs in the UK, European Union and Canada, and will send recently-researched information to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
Buoying the coalition's hopes is the recanting in recent weeks by two key witnesseswhose testimony led to charges against Senator de Lima. Both say their testimony was coerced. This week a bipartisan group of US senators called for Senator de Lima's release.
NGOs estimate more than 30,000 people have been killed extrajudicially by Philippine police and by government-financed vigilante groups associated with the police, since Duterte took office in 2016. Late last year the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court commenced an investigation into the Philippine drug war killings, though currently on pause under a treaty action by the Duterte administration that requests the investigation be reconsidered.
The PH Magnitsky Coalition includes Loida Nicolas Lewis, Chair, US Filipinos for Good Governance (USFGG); Filipino American Human Rights Alliance (FAHRA); international justice expert and former Marcos family corruption investigator Ruben Carranza; former Secretary for Filipinos Overseas Imelda Nicolas; USFGG Washington DC Coordinator Eric Lachica; StoptheDrugWar.org executive director David Borden; Ecumenical Advocacy Network on the Philippines (EANP); with others being added.
Persons the coalition recommends for sanctions will range from top-level national officials and police brass; political figures who encouraged extrajudicial killings or provided political cover for them; legal officials who stymied the investigatory process; local killers and officials who arranged reward payments; and PNP officials at Camp Crame, where Senator de Lima has been imprisoned since February 24, 2017.
Evidence backing up the charges will range from reports by human rights NGOs, national, and international institutions; affidavits from confessed former death squad members; news articles; and speeches in which public officials including President Duterte called for killings and took credit for them.
Eric Lachica, Washington DC Coordinator for US Filipinos for Good Governance, said, "Magnitsky law sanctions on President Duterte and his corrupt enablers would hasten the freedom of Senator de Lima, and would mark a fitting end to his murderous regime."
David Borden, Executive Director of the NGO StoptheDrugWar.org and coordinator of the coalition's Magnitsky effort said, "Disinformation may sway an election, but facts still hold an edge in the international legal system."
After completing this submission, the coalition plans similar efforts related to the corruption and suspected money-laundering efforts involving ill-gotten wealth of the family of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and to the Duterte administration's persecution of media outlets such as Rappler, whose publisher Maria Ressa was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.
News release from our colleagues at the International Drug Policy Consortium:
Today, at the CND 64th Session Reconvened, the Chair of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was meant to present a ground-breaking >study on drug policy and arbitrary detention, which includes recommendations to decriminalise use, cultivation and possession for personal use, inter alia.
The oral video presentation by the Chair of the WGAD was blocked as a number of Member States contested the Working Group's legitimacy.
This censorship of human rights experts, on International Human Rights Day (!), sets a dangerous precedent that should not go unnoticed.
We encourage you to share >this press release (also below) with your contacts, and share this information on social media. You can >retweet or use the following suggested tweets:
Senator Trillanes at our March 2018 event (photo courtesy Joey Tranchina)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 4, 2018
StoptheDrugWar.org condemns the Duterte administration's blatantly political attack on Senator Antonio Trillanes, a fierce and brave critic of the President's human rights violations.
Senator Trillanes joined our March 2018 event at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting in Vienna, where he presented administration data suggesting that extrajudicial killings in President Duterte's drug war may exceed 20,000. Perversely, the Senator observed, the administration listed these killings among its "2017 Accomplishments."
We note that President Duterte promised a year ago to "destroy" Senator Trillanes.
Senator Leila de Lima was incarcerated a year and a half ago on unsupported drug charges, half a year after President Duterte promised to "destroy" her. The case against de Lima was brought shortly after she had a confessed former member of Duterte's "Davao Death Squad" testify in the Justice Committee, one of two former DDS members to go public.
"Senator Trillanes told us in Vienna he expected political prosecutions to increase in pace during the second half of this year. But he also promised that while he remained free, he would continue to speak out," said StoptheDrugWar.org Executive Director David Borden.
"Undoubtedly the imprisoning of Senator Trillanes, if that happens, will further mobilize the already energized Philippine opposition to Duterte," Borden continued. "But it will also focus even greater world attention onto Duterte's crimes and depredations. I am saddened by this development, but I can't imagine a better gift to our international organizing efforts."
StoptheDrugWar.org is a US-based NGO with a focus on international drug policy, and which has focused on the Philippines human rights situation since early 2017. Our educational nonprofit DRCNet Foundation has been in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 2016.
CONTACT: David Borden, Executive Director, StoptheDrugWar.org, [email protected]
More Than 150 Organizations Condemn President Trump's Call to Execute People for Nonviolent Drug Offenses
UN to Release Annual "World Drug Report" While Reformers Rally Worldwide
Groups Accuse Singapore of Using False Drug Use Data to Justify Death Penalty
China is doing less of this, but Trump wants more. (Amnesty International)
A growing coalition with over 150 organizations as of this writing (140 when release was first done) has condemned President Trump's call to institute the death penalty for drug offenses. A copy of the statement, which was organized by the US-based NGO StoptheDrugWar.org, is online here.
The statement was submitted to the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, to be considered for inclusion in a report on the death penalty being presented to the General Assembly next fall. David Borden, executive director of StoptheDrugWar.organd the statement's author, explained, "We decided to release the statement at this time because of the immigrant family separations and the US's withdrawal from the Human Rights Council, as another example of President Trump's assault on human rights."
The statement also coincides with the June 26 release of the annual UN World Drug Report, and with the annual Support Don't PunishGlobal Day of Action for health- and human rights-based approaches to drug policy.
Among the statement's signatories are the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Latino Commission on AIDS, the William C. Velasquez Institute, Death Penalty Focus, the National Association of Social Workers, and Housing Works.
The US has never brought a death penalty case for a drug offense, but following the president's call for executions last spring, Attorney General Sessions sent a memo to prosecutors urging them to consider seeking the death penalty in some cases.
The statement argues, with references, that the president's claims of success for drug death penalty approaches in other countries is "premised on falsehoods." It notes that the world's leading executors for drug offenses, China and Iran, have scaled back their use of executions for drug offenses; and accuses Singapore's government of using "faked data" to justify their drugs death penalty.
The statement also makes note of President Trump's suggestion that police officers should bash suspects' heads on car door frames when arresting them, made during a police officers' convention in July 2017; and his repeated calls for violence against protesters at his rallies during the presidential campaign, recorded on video on seven different occasions.
The statement also notes Trump's praise for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal campaign of extrajudicial drug war killings, which Duterte administration figures suggest has claimed 20,000 lives to date. The statement has strong representation in the Philippines as well as the Filipino American community, with more than ten endorsing organizations including the iDEFEND human rights coalition, the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation, and the Filipino American Human Rights Alliance (FAHRA).
The statement calls on Congress to repeal the US's never-used drugs death penalty statutes; to enact bipartisan sentencing reform legislation that is pending in Congress; and to pass legislation sponsored by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to impose human rights conditions on some aid to the Philippines while funding public health work and human rights advocacy.
Borden said, "We are committed to recognizing if and when the Trump administration takes good steps in drug policy or criminal justice. Recently the president released Alice Johnson, a 63-year old grandmother who had been imprisoned since 1996 on a drug offense, and he suggested there could be many more pardons. He has offered tentative support for legislation to give formal federal permission to states enacting marijuana legalization, though Republican leadership has blocked the bill from moving. We hope the president follows through on both these promises. In the meanwhile, however, the overall Trump administration record in the drug war is a horrific one."
StoptheDrugWar.org plays a leading role in US-based global drug policy reform. We advocate for drug policies prioritizing health, human rights and development. We call for revision of the three UN drug conventions in light of national moves toward marijuana legalization. On the basis of the supremacy of human rights under the UN charter, we assert countries' right to consider legalization or marijuana or other drugs, despite current treaty language. And we work for rule of law and accountability for gross violations of human rights in countries' drug wars.
Our work at UN meetings of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), in the human rights system and in other meetings at the UN and elsewhere has advanced dialogue on all these isues.
Global drug policy is implicated in criminal justice and human rights issues such as sentencing and the death penalty. It affects public health issues like AIDS and Hepatitis C. Development is affected by drug policy, as are crime and security. The international system has made opioid pain medications largely unavailable in most countries. UN drug scheduling is a discouragement to governments wishing to legalize medical marijuana, and adverse treaty language discourages governments from considering legalization. The international system affects global commerce prospects for the legal marijuana trade.
WashingtonPost.com story on our UNGASS coalition statement
In preparation for the April 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem, (UNGASS) we organized sign-on statements and letters with hundreds of organizational signatories that included some of the world's leading NGOs. These documents promoted the idea that human rights takes precedence over drug control objectives when the two are in conflict -- even on the question of whether to legalize marijuana or other drugs, which faces adverse treaty language -- while arguing for a range of reforms in the areas of public health, development and access to medicine.
Our work on the UNGASS included a teleconference for media with legislators involved with marijuana legalization efforts in Canada and Mexico. This led to the first mainstream media report, published by the New York Times, noting US opposition to taking up reform of the drug treaties, despite marijuana legalization in the US moving the country into tension with the treaties. Our sign-on documents were covered by major media including WashingtonPost.com.
Our 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit, DRCNet Foundation Inc., has been an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since July 2016. This enables us to deliver interventions (short speeches) at UN meetings, to help allies get admitted to meetings, and to hold educational side events at the UN.
Our first side event, at the 2017 Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting, triggered a major political incident after then Vice President Leni Robredo of the Philippines provided us with a powerful video statement which criticized then President Duterte's brutal drug war. Allies of the president including the Speaker of the House of Representatives attacked her for criticizing the Philippines at the UN, leading to a weeks-long (ultimately unsuccessful) drive to impeach her.
Our continuing work on the Philippines crisis has led us to engage with global rule of law advocacy in support of the International Criminal Court and of Magnitsky and similar targeted sanctions laws. More of that side of our program is detailed here.
In 2023, we are engaging with US foreign policy related to drugs in the legislative process, pressing human rights, rule of law issues and accountability in drug policy at the Human Rights Council and elsewhere; and returning to our advocacy linking human rights with the need for alternatives to prohibition, opposing the death penalty, supporting the global NGO reform agenda for drug policy. As part of this we will promote core forward looking documents like the UN Common Position on Drug Policy and the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy.
Below we present our work related to the 2016 UNGASS; in our ongoing event series at the CND, HLPF and HRC; in opposition to the death penalty for drugs; and other statements we've delivered for UN meetings. (See our Philippines/Rule of Law page for other events held at the ICC Rome Treaty's Assembly of States Parties.)
work on the 2016 UNGASS:
David Borden presented at a February 2016 preparatory event for UNGASS, at the UN in New York.
David Borden delivered an intervention during the April 2016 UNGASS, Roundtable on Cross-Cutting Issues. The remarks criticized the rationale countries had offered for avoiding any discussion of possible modifications to the treaties, noting that it's the norm for treaties to be updated at times. Borden also called for regulatory approaches to be considered for New Psychoactive Substances, one of several major issue areas in drug policy that the UN has identified, not solely prohibitionist approaches.
We organized ateleconference for media on prospects for marijuana legalization in Canada and Mexico, featuring Mexican Senator Laura Rojas and Canadian Member of Parliament Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, as well as representatives of leading NGOs in both countries.
Seattle Times editorial (4/17/16) – we're not mentioned, but provided information
New York Times (4/18/16) – we're not mentioned, but provided information. The article was the first in a major media outlet to note the US opposed taking up treaty reform at the UN, despite US movement toward legalization.
Our signature effort for the UNGASS was a sign-on statement with nearly 350 organizational signatories, released to media and at the UN in May 2015 and again in April 2016. The statement was endorsed by such leading NGOs as ACLU, Human Rights Watch and AIDS United.
The statement argues that in cases of irreconcilable conflict, nations' obligations under the human rights treaties, which are enshrined as fundamental in the United Nations Charter, take precedence over provisions of the drug control treaties.
The statement also calls for a range of improvements to policies in areas such as development, public health and security; for the UN to appoint a "Committee of Experts" to study the topic of drug treaty reform; and calls on the Obama administration to harmonize its foreign policy on drugs with its domestic policies by providing leadership at the UN to make that happen.
We also organized a sign-on letter to President Obama in advance of the March 2016 Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting that preceded UNGASS. It noted positive aspects to the administration's approach to UNGASS, but argued that "in key respects... the... US position for UNGASS [took] a short-term approach, stopping short of the crucial reforms called for by UN agencies and US allies, while failing to address new realities." The letter generated a great deal of excitement in the NGO community, and was signed by over 250 organizations in a short period of time, many of them representing mainstream issues affected by drug policy.
As noted above, we organized a sign-on letter to President Obama in advance of the March 2016 Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting that preceded UNGASS, which was covered by media.
David Borden delivered an intervention at the June 2016 High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS at the UN in New York, panel discussion on the Sustainable Development Goals. The remarks discussed ways that prohibition and the drug war contribute to the spread of HIV and AIDS, and called for the UN to take on these issues during the upcoming 2019 High Level Review of UN drug policy.
David Borden delivered an invited intervention on the relationship between drug policy and the Sustainable Development Goals, for the January 2017 Intersessional CND meeting (transcript on UNODC web site). The remarks noted tensions between drug prohibition and SDG goals #1 (poverty), #3 (health), #8 (work), #10 (inequality), and #16 (peace, justice and strong institutions. The remarks also noted the decline in global AIDS funding, particularly for programs responding to injection drug use.
Robredo's video drew massive attention in the Philippines and some internationally. Unfortunately, opponents of the vice president used the video to attack her politically, leading to a campaign for her impeachment, a threat which is currently being considered by the Speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives. We regret that political leaders of the Philippines misrepresented our event to attack the vice president, instead of facing the grim reality of widespread human rights abuses.
More information on our Philippines-related work, including full video footage and transcripts of our side event, as well as press coverage, is available here.
Also at the 2017 CND, we organized an NGO sign-on statement (initial submission on the UN Office on Drugs and Crime web site, updated version with more signatories on our web site). A major signatory on this statement, new to our global drug policy efforts, is the National Organization for Women (NOW).
We served as ECOSOC sponsor for a side event on marijuana regulation, and for the photo exhibit on safe injection sites shown above, organized by European partners for the March 2017 CND annual meeting. David Borden presented on the panel, discussing the "path toward consensus" on marijuana legalization in the US. Since 2016 we have also provided UN accreditation for these and other partners in advocacy efforts on marijuana's status in the UN drug scheduling system, enabling them to serve as representatives to the UN facilities in Geneva and Vienna; and have served as the charitable sponsor nonprofit for donations to the project.
We submitted a statement for the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) 2017 Integration Segment (April 2017). The statement makes the case that adjustments are needed to drug policy in order to make the eradication of poverty a truly integral objective of UN programs, and noted several ways in which prohibitionist drug policies work against achievement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
In March 2018, a high-profile Philippine Senator and opponent of President Duterte, Antonio "Sonny" F. Trillanes IV, keynoted for our side event at the annual CND meeting, "Human Rights Challenge: One Year Later, Drug War Extrajudicial Killings Continue." The senator's arrival in Vienna coincided with the Duterte government's notice withdrawing the Philippines from the International Criminal Court; and Philippine government prosecutors filed a sedition arrest warrant against him the morning before our event, as part of their ongoing legal harassment campaign.
The event also featured Philippine human rights advocate Ellecer Carlos, and a reading by advocates of a written statement provided by imprisoned Philippine Senator Leila de Lima. Click here for more information about the event, including mainstream news articles, as well as a series of fake news stories about the senator's visit to the UN that appeared in the Philippines.
At the March 2019 CND annual meeting, we presented "Alternative Values, Alternative Facts: Drug Policy and Justice as Casualties in the Struggle Between Authoritarianism and Democracy." This event featured prerecorded presentations by leading human rights attorney, and at the time senatorial candidate, Chel Diokno; researcher Pamela Combinido, whose group interviewed organizers and rank-and-file "trolls" who carry social media disinformation campaigns; and a video from BuzzFeed News on Facebook's role in fueling Duterte's drug war, which accompanied an award-winning article on the topic by technology reporter Davey Alba. (Atty Diokno joined live discussion with attendees, but the video footage was not usable.)
Diokno's statement prompted significant news coverage in the Philippines, particularly his statement that the Philippine justice system is "eroding," and elicited a response from then Philippine Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara. Click here for more information and news links.
At the March 2020 CND annual meeting, we presented the side event "Human Rights Tools: Incorporating International Justice and Targeted Sanctions Into Drug Policy." The event included our first talk on the Bangladesh extrajudicial drug war killings, and comments from a representative of the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.
Statement of UN representative and medical cannabis patient Michael Krawitz, 63rd Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, March 2020. Michael was a member our delegation and is an annual designated representative for DRCNet Foundation at the United Nations. He delivered this statement on behalf of Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access.
David Borden intervened during a plenary session of the 2021 Commission on Narcotic Drugs, as part of a discussion of the Commission's contribution to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Borden argued that many current drug policies impede achievement of the goals and compete with the UN human rights system. The submitted written version is online here.
David Borden delivered a statement on Plenary Item #6, implementing the 2019 Ministerial Declaration, 65th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, March 16, 2022. Due to the time limit, some of the content was omitted from the delivered presentation. The statement addresses the denial of methadone therapy in Crimea by occupying Russian forces, and suggested its applicability to the ICC Ukraine case and Magnitsky sanctions regimes due to Crimea's continued international status as part of Ukraine. (Due to a mishap, video of the original English presentation was not preserved. We have posted the French, Russian and Spanish interpretations.)
Also for the 2022 CND, we presented the side event "Open Wound, Extrajudicial Drug War Killings in 2022," featuring Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit from the Commission on Human Rights of the Republic Philippines, and Hong Kong-based Bangaladeshi native Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman of the Asian Human Rights Commission.
David Borden delivered a statement on Plenary Item #5E, on implementing the international drug conventions, other matters relating to the implementation of the convention, during the 66th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, March 15, 2023. The statement notes intractable misconduct in the US drug war to make a case that human rights and drug control are often in tension, asserting the supremacy of human rights as a justification for legalization systems. The statement also addresses the need to make use of international human rights mechanisms like Magnitsky laws and the International Criminal Court, noting again Russia's termination of methadone access in occupied Crimea.
coming soon: footage from our March 17, 2023 in-person side event, "Fractures: Rule of Law Challenges in the Global Drug War"
side events at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development:
In July 2018, we presented "Human Rights Challenge: Judicial and Extrajudicial Drug War Killings in a Time of Authoritarianism," which included a prerecorded statement from Senator Risa Hontiveros of the Philippines.
In July 2019, we held a side event for the HLPF at UN Headquarters in New York, "Alternative Values, Alternative Facts: Drug Policy and Justice as Casualties in the Struggle Between Authoritarianism and Democracy." Footage of the live discussion is not currently available.
In July 2020, we held an online side event for the HLPF, "No Time Like the Present: Drug Policy Reform is More Urgent Than Ever." Speakers included representatives of Housing Works, UNAIDS, the UN Office on Drug and Crime, and a well-known prison educator from the Philippines.
In July 2021, we held an side event for the HLPF, "SDG 16: The Global War on Drugs vs. Rule of Law and Human Rights."
In July 2022, we held an online side event for the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), "Building Back with Justice? Marcos, Duterte, the ICC and the Philippine Drug War."
work in the UN human rights system
August 28, 2020 intervention for informal NGO consultation on UN human rights system, March 2022 side event at UN Human Rights Council, Geneva
Side event at the UN Human Rights Council, October 4, 2022, "The Continuing Detention of Senator Leila de Lima, featuring Vicente de Lima II, brother of the former senator; well-known Philippine human rights advocate Father Albert Alejo in person (currently based at Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome); and a prerecorded message from opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
Standalone copy of Senator Hontiveros's statement.
work opposing the death penalty:
In April 2015 we organized a sign-on letter protesting the resumption of executions for drug offenses by the government of Indonesia. The link is to a copy of the letter published as part of an article in Huffington Post, linked from their home page for 24 hours.
Georgetown Law professor Jason Wright presented on the death penalty for drug offenses, linking to general death penalty issues and his work as a public defender in Afghanistan-related cases, on our July 2018 HLPF event.
Researcher Iftitahsari of Indonesia's Institute for Criminal Justice Reform presented on Indonesia's death penalty for drug offenses, and Duterte-imitation extrajudicial drug war killings, for our July 2021 HLPF event. Indonesia's diplomatic mission at the UN in New York responded during the Q&A.
Concern Growing in Asia, US, World Over Philippines Extrajudicial Drug War Killings
In Advance of ASEAN Summit, More Than 270 NGOs, Political Leaders, Human Rights and Health Advocates Call for International Pressure -- and for Justice
pcoo.gov.ph
A global coalition released a statement today calling for urgent measures to stop Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's murderous drug war and to seek justice. The statement comes just before President Trump (who has repeatedlypraised Duterte's drug war) will meet with Duterte for the first time, during the ASEAN Summit in the Philippines November 12-14. In anticipation, Duterte has reportedly told Trump to "lay off" human rights issues. Trump is one of 21 world leaders, along with the UN's Secretary General, expected to attend the Summit.
Of the more than 200 NGO endorsers on the statement, more than 40 are based in Asia, including a majority of ASEAN member states as well as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The statement also lists several Asia-wide networks on issues such as HIV, transgender and drug user concerns, and youth democracy activism.
A political component of the statement's outreach efforts is in the early stages, but includes legislators from Canada, Italy, Cambodia, and Washington State, as well as other political and governmental officials from Singapore, Canada and the UK.
"We call for a process of accountability, starting with a UN-led investigation," says the statement. "We likewise call on world leaders attending the ASEAN Summit to unequivocally call for an end to the killings and for human rights to be respected."
The statement notes: "Since the Philippines escalated its 'drug war' in June of last year, over 3,900 people have been killed in anti-drug operations, with nearly 2,300 more drug-related murders and thousands still 'unexplained,' according to police reports. Estimates by media and human rights groups for the total drug war killings have ranged from 7,000 up to 14,000. Appearance suggests there may be a deliberate policy of extrajudicial killing." (References are available in the statement's end notes section.)
The statement was organized by a coalition including the leading human rights organizations in the Philippines, Filipino American advocacy groups, drug policy reform, HIV/AIDS groups and others. It was coordinated by the Washington-DC based organization StoptheDrugWar.org, whose executive director David Borden organized a forum on extrajudicial killings at the UN in Vienna last March that became highly controversial in the Philippines.
Notable signatories on the document include the National Organization for Women (NOW), Doctors of the World, the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG, a nationwide Philippines human rights lawyers group founded during the Marcos dictatorship years), Treatment Communities of America, prominent human rights advocate and actor of MASH fame Mike Farrell, former police chief of Seattle Norm Stamper, and others.
"President Duterte has defined a particular section of Philippine society as inhuman & worthy of elimination -- namely the poor," said Ellecer Carlos, spokesperson for In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND), the largest human rights coalition in the Philippines. "Instead of caring for these people and addressing the root cause of their problems, this present leadership has chosen to assault and further brutalize them."
Carlos was featured speaker at a forum at the US Congress's Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in July. 'A bill in the US Senate to impose human rights conditions on law enforcement assistance to the Philippines, "The Philippines Human Rights Accountability and Counternarcotics Act of 2017," was introduced in May by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), and has 'seven cosponsors. Lantos Commission co-chairs Reps. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and James McGovern (D-MA) sent a 'letterto President Trump this week urging him to "impress upon President Duterte the United States' profound concern over reported extra-judicial killings associated with the Philippine government's 'war on drugs.'"
Ago Pedalizo of the Filipino American Human Rights Alliance (FAHRA) said, "President Duterte, through reprehensible public statements, has instigated unabated extrajudicial killings of thousands of drug suspects by police and vigilante elements as part of his war on drugs. We call on the Philippine government to conduct a thorough and effective investigation of the killings, and to fully cooperate with investigations by international human rights advocates."
"It is unfortunate that President Trump has repeatedly praised not only Duterte personally, but Duterte's bloody drug war too," said Borden. "I hope that both presidents change course on this. In the meantime, Congress should step in by including language from the Cardin/Rubio bill in the pending State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill."
The statement concludes: "The world is at a crossroads. At this uncertain time, lawlessness and extrajudicial violence must not become a model for more countries. When human rights are attacked, all are called on to act -- by individual conscience, age-old moral principles, and the global agreements seeking peace and security for all. The time for action is now."
The following statement was distributed this morning by Human Rights Watch. One of the issues it touches on is the Philippines drug war killings and the president-elect's troubling conversation with the mass murderer president of the Philippines. (We are doing work related to the Philippines situation that will be announced in the near future. Human Rights Watch was a key partner in our global drug policy sign-on statement prepared for the 2016 UNGASS.)
(Washington, January 20, 2017) -- Donald Trump takes office today having vowed to enact policies that would threaten rights at home and abroad if actually implemented, Human Rights Watch said today. Human rights advocates, elected officials, and members of the public should press the new United States president to abandon those proposals and should call out government actions that violate rights. Congress, the courts, and the people of the United States should demand transparency and hold the administration accountable for policies and actions that threaten rights.
"This inauguration opens up a dangerous and uncertain new era for the United States," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Even if President Trump acts only on ten percent of the most problematic of his campaign proposals, it will cause a momentous setback for human rights at home and abroad. The onus is now on elected officials and the public to demand respect for rights that the President-elect seems to have put in his crosshairs."
Both during his presidential campaign and since his election, Trump has embraced policies that would harm the rights of millions of people -- from the immigrants he has vowed to deport in vast numbers, to the women whose reproductive rights he has promised to restrict through his judicial appointments. He has at times publicly embraced torture and the illegal targeted killing of civilians abroad. He said he would halt the release of men from Guantanamo Bay detention facility and "load it up with some bad dudes." Trump's pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has a long track record of hostility and disdain towards the very civil rights enforcement tools the US Justice Department is called on to deploy in defense of rights.
Trump's approach to foreign policy appears to embrace close collaboration with repressive governments on a range of issues, without regard for their troubling human rights records. During his confirmation hearing, Rex Tillerson, Trump's nominee for secretary of state, refused to acknowledge human rights violations by Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines, despite extensive documentation of the violations by numerous sources, including the US government.
Greatly compounding all of these concerns, there is every reason to worry that the Trump administration will seek to minimize scrutiny of its actions. Trump and his advisers have regularly and very publicly insulted or smeared his critics. Reports indicate his team is considering restricting media access to the White House. And Trump has famously said that he would like to weaken libel laws to facilitate lawsuits against journalists.
"By trampling on the rights of millions of people in the US and abroad, Trump's proposals if enacted would weaken everybody's rights," Roth said. "Elected officials and the public should call out proposals and policies that would weaken rights, and demand a government that protects them."
Major Groups Call for UN to Respect Countries That Legalize Marijuana or Other Drugs
Human Rights Should Take Priority Over Drug Enforcement, New Letter Says
NEW YORK, NY – As the United Nations prepares for the first comprehensive review of global responses to drug problems in nearly two decades, a broad coalition of more than 100 organizations is pushing for the international body to respect countries that move away from prohibition.
"Existing US and global drug control policies that heavily emphasize criminalization of drug use, possession, production and distribution are inconsistent with international human rights standards and have contributed to serious human rights violations," the groups write in a new letter being released today.
Groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, Global Exchange, Drug Policy Alliance and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights are among the signatories. Also notable are a number of organizations devoted to health policy and AIDS services.
The letter's release is timed to a United Nations "High-Level Thematic Debate on the World Drug Problem" taking place in New York on Thursday, May 7, in preparation for a UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS) scheduled for April 2016. Advocates believe that countries should take the UNGASS as an opportunity to pursue a range of reforms to global drug policy, including revising provisions of the UN Drug Conventions that threaten to stand in the way of reform. The Obama administration has taken the stance that countries should be free to pursue different kinds of systems under the treaties – including legalization – but has also opposed treaty reform, a stance which advocates have questioned.
"The administration's call to respect countries' right to try regulation rather than prohibition is a positive step for drug policy, as are other reforms the US has sought internationally," said David Borden, executive director of StoptheDrugWar.org, who coordinated the sign-on letter. "But it doesn't make sense to oppose having a discussion within the UN about modernizing the treaties to reflect that."
The coalition has called for the UN to appoint a "Committee of Experts" to study treaty reform, a common UN procedure for addressing issues of interest.
To date, four US states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis, as has the nation of Uruguay. Many other countries have decriminalized possession of certain drugs or have implemented harm reduction measures like syringe exchange programs. While the UN's drug enforcement body has warned that some of these policies may violate the treaties, the push for reform doesn't appear to be slowing anytime soon.
The new letter calls for revising the treaties, and says that in the meanwhile "in case of irreconcilable conflict, human rights principles, which lie at the core of the United Nations charter, should take priority over provisions of the drug conventions." Human rights concerns may require shifting to drug control systems that aren't based on prohibition, the statement suggests. "Accommodating… experiments… with legalization and regulation of internationally controlled substances may require that the UN drug conventions are interpreted in light of countries' international human rights and other obligations."
Although marijuana legalization is a major factor driving the international drug debate, another is the impact the illicit drug trade has in Latin America, where violence and related criminal problems associated with the trade exceed that suffered in other regions.
John Walsh, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), said, "Some Latin American leaders are now openly questioning the global drug prohibition regime, because of the destruction caused by criminal organizations fueled by enormous drug trade profits. Meanwhile, the US is undergoing important shifts in its own domestic policy, with the Obama administration wisely accommodating states that are legalizing and regulating cannabis. This expands the political space for other countries as well." Walsh is the coauthor of "Marijuana Legalization is an Opportunity to Modernize International Drug Treaties," co-published by WOLA and The Brookings Institution.
Advocates also warn that flexibility, as called for by the State Department, shouldn't be used to justify human rights violations in any country, such as the death penalty for nonviolent offenses or the banning of life-saving public health interventions like syringe exchange or opioid substitution therapy. "Prohibition has been a public health and human rights disaster," said Charles King, CEO of the US's largest community-based AIDS service organization, Housing Works. "That's why citizens around the world are calling for – and in some cases enacting – forward-thinking reforms that move away from criminalization and toward regulation and control. US and UN agencies should stop trying to cut off the treaty reform discussion and encourage a truly open debate instead."
StoptheDrugWar.org works for an end to drug prohibition worldwide, and an end to the "drug war" in its current form. We believe that much of the harm commonly attributed to "drugs" is really the result of placing drugs in a criminal environment. We believe the global drug war has fueled violence, civil instability and public health crises; and that the currently prevalent arrest- and punishment-based policies toward drugs are unjust.
Mexico poet and human rights activist Javier Sicilia and the Caravan for Peace (Movement for Peace and Justice with Dignity) will be in the nation's capital Tuesday and Wednesday. Sicilia will address both Congress and the Organization of American States. The events are open to the public. This press release has more details.
