Nearly 6,000 People Killed In Duterte's War On Drugs

Nearly 6,000 people have been killed in relation to President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs campaign in the Philippines since he came to power

• on June 30, reports said Tuesday, citing police records. The casualties reportedly include teenagers and even an anti-drug activist.

Duterte’s controversial war on drugs, criticized by several world leaders, including President Barack Obama and international organizations like the United Nations, was put in place to crack down rampant drug use in the country.

While Duterte put the number of drug addicts in the Philippines at an estimated three to four million, there were an estimated 1.8 million current drug users and at least 4.8 million people who said they used an illegal drug at some point in their lives, Filipino newspaper the Rappler reported.

The Rappler puts the number of people killed in relation to the anti-drug drive at 6,095 as of Dec. 14, 2016, including 3,993 extrajudicial killings.

According to Al Jazeera, on an average, 36 people were killed every day during the first 168 days of Duterte’s presidency. In the first four days of his presidency, 11 people were killed every day on an average.

Duterte was accused of violating human rights but the 71-year-old leader, referred to as the Trump of the East, dismissed the accusations calling them “stupid.”He recently admitted to personally killing criminals when he was mayor of the southern city of Davao, home to nearly 1.5 million people.