David Borden: Discussion will refer to the Human rights situations in the Phillippine drug war. Slaughtering hundreds of thousands of drug users and dealers- 30,000 acknowledged killings, 20,000 unofficial killings. In 2017 accomplishments report, listed unofficial killings as an accomplishment. We are the coordinator of ‘Stand with Human Rights and Democracy’ in the Phillippines. Rallying international pressure on the government and discussing the issue. The philippine mission made a statement on the opening of the session which was cancelled. The international criminal court has been conducting examinations and indicated at treaty assembly that an investigation would be coming soon. We have. a number of speakers joining us. There is an expanded attack on political opposition- 3 year anniversary of jailing of Senator Delima. There are also attacks on the media. The administration are trying to shut down ABS CBN the major broadcasting network. With the threat of a shut down, the business value gets deflated, then the business allies step in and make an offer to buy the business and take over control of the network. The US State dep. have taken action- Asia assurance Initiative Act targeting those involved in the process and this year, a language calling for a travel ban preventing them from entering the USA. It was reported in Phillippine news.

Chair for International Nigeria Court: Aim is to stop impunity……. (sound issues)

Asian Legal Resource Centre: In the case of Bangladesh in 2018, there was an election. In february they started the executions. Bangladesh kills people for sex crimes not just drug crimes. There are also cases of disappearances. The ICC doesn’t want to disturb Bangladesh by talking about the crimes committed by the government. That is not in the agenda.

….: We need to go back in history. Drug trafficking is why it was brought to the attention of the general assembly to try the criminals who were shipping cocaine to the US. Even if countries apply the death penalty, that is applied after a trial. WE are now facing a different situation. The dev in aim that we have presented to the public about the Phillippines is good news as after two yeras after preparing documents bilaterally and publicly. There is a possible case. There are ways to block the opening of an investigation. but the only organ of UN system who can do that is the security guards if they believe is a threat to international peace and security. The other issue is it takes a lot of time to have this pushed forward but once thie case is open, it continues to be open and be enriched by more information. Attention remains strong and constant on the suspected. At the beginning of the year the former dictator of Sedan. This would never have happened without civil society assistance. Small events like these make a difference as it shows things happening at transnational levels.

Chair: Any questions?

Audience: Re Phillippines, do you think that there is a possibility that the philippine judiciary are taking any action? What do you require outside the country for help with the issue?

Asian Legal Resource Centre: National judicial system is not useful for these types of crimes. A judge was withdrawn for taking action and a different judge replaced them. The judiciary do not function in these cases.