Human Rights Watch condemns death of 5-year-old girl in drug war

MANILA, Philippines — International group Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently condemned the death of a five-year-old girl, the youngest reported victim claimed by the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

HRW Asia Deputy Director Phelim Kine said kindergarten student, Danica May Garcia, sustained a gunshot wound to her head that led to her death. The bullet was reportedly intended for her grandfather, Maximo Garcia, who was shot by an unidentified assailant as their family sat down to lunch.

According to Kine, the attack against Maximo came three days after he registered with the Philippine National Police to deny his alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade. Unlike his granddaughter, Maximo survived being shot in the abdomen and his attack was attributed by the police to unnamed drug dealers.

HRW expressed dismay over Danica’s death as she is just one of the thousands of Filipinos killed in the government's anti-drug war widely reported even by international media.

“These killings suggest Duterte’s aggressive rhetoric advocating violent, extrajudicial solutions to crime in the Philippines has found willing takers,” Kine said, citing President Rodrigo Duterte's urging of Filipinos to kill people they know are involved in drugs.

Kine also condemned Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s refusal to respond to repeated calls for his department to launch an urgent and impartial investigation of the killings.  

He said Aguirre justified killings of alleged criminal suspects on the basis that “[d]esperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Aguirre’s perverse endorsement of extrajudicial violence as crime control suggests that Danica May is unlikely to be the last child victim. Each day, the death toll from the government’s 'war on drugs' climbs higher and higher,” Kine added. — Rosette Adel