Philippines faces call for U.N investigation into war on drugs killings

* Iceland submits first resolution on the Philippines
* Activists say 27,000 killed in so-called 'war on drugs'
* U.N. Human Rights Council due to vote on text by July 12

By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, July 4 (Reuters) - More than two dozen countries
formally called on Thursday for a United Nations investigation
into thousands of killings in Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte's war on drugs, activists said.
Iceland submitted the draft resolution backed by mainly
European states, they said. The text urges the government to
prevent extrajudicial executions and marks the first time that
the Human Rights Council is being asked to address the crisis.
The Duterte government has insisted the more than 5,000
suspected drug dealers killed by police in anti-narcotics
operations all put up a fight.
But activists say that at least 27,000 have been killed
since Duterte was elected in 2016 on a platform of crushing
crime and that Myka, a three-year-old shot during a police raid
last weekend, is among the latest victims.
"Here we are three years later with 27,000 killed, among the
most impoverished, in a massive crackdown. That is a
conservative estimate," Ellecer "Budit" Carlos of the
Manila-based group iDefend told Reuters.
"In a non-armed conflict context, this is the worst case of
extrajudicial killings globally," he said after urging the
council to act.
The Geneva forum is to vote on the resolution before ending
its three-week session on July 12. The Philippines is among its
current 47 members.
Carlos conceded that Asian countries are unlikely to vote in
favour of the text, adding: "I think it will be a close shave".
One Asian ambassador, speaking on condition of anonymity,
indicated that his country would not support it, telling
Reuters: "There are worse things happening in the world."
But activists say the Council and the office of U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet must shine a
light on the situation.
"For us a primary priority for this session is the situation
in the Philippines," said Laila Matar of Human Rights Watch.
"Bodies continue to pile up in Manila and other urban areas,
again in the context of the war on drugs which we have seen is
very much a war against the poor, impoverished and marginalized
communities, which are the biggest victims," she said.
It occurs in a wider context of "attacks on human rights
defenders, media activists, journalists, anyone who really dares
to speak up against the killings," she added.
"Police accounts of drug raids are not reliable – the
officers enforcing the 'drug war' have been shown to plant
weapons and drugs to justify the killings," Matar told the
Council this week.