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Showing posts from March, 2023

The State of Rights and Democracy in the Strongman’s War on Drugs

  The State of Rights and Democracy in the Strongman’s War on Drugs A Reflection Paper by Lourenzo Manimtim               “If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men, and do-nothings, you better get out because I'll kill you.” (Human Rights Watch, Conde, 2017)             On May 9, 2016, the former president said those words beginning the herald of the campaign against illegal drugs— The “War on Drugs”. Not too long since words were spoken death and misery have spiked in the country in the first six (6) months of his presidency— the administration has led to an unprecedented number of killings (Rapper, 2016). Many people were killed, and many were slain in this bloody and brutal war. Reminiscence of this wretched memory still lingers in the minds of the people. The rampant cases and detrimental breaches of human rights and the attacks of the state to human rights defenders and organizations in defiance to the “W