A/HRC/39/39 enforcement measures. He affirmed that the use of lethal force by law enforcement officers must be regulated within the framework of human rights law and its standard of strict necessity, and that the rhetoric of shoot to kill should never be used (see E/CN.4/2006/53). 29. Since the “war on drugs” was announced in the Philippines in 2016, there have been reports of thousands of extrajudicial killings of people allegedly involved with the drug trade and drug use. The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines reported that impunity had been virtually guaranteed, because of the President’s pronouncements that police officers responsible for the killing of individuals suspected of involvement in the drug trade would not face prosecution during his tenure, and, if ever prosecuted, would be pardoned.51 In February 2018, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opened a preliminary examination into crimes allegedly committed in the Philippines in the context of the recent “war on drugs” campaign.52 30. In May 2018, the Government of Bangladesh deployed the Rapid Action Battalion, a specialized police unit which has made excessive use of force and has a history of responsibility in the high rate of extrajudicial killings (see CCPR/C/BGD/CO/1), to counter the drug problem. The Battalion has been accused of killing over 200 people during the socalled “war on drugs”. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned alleged extrajudicial killings and urged authorities in Bangladesh to bring perpetrators of serious human rights violations to justice. 53 31. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights recognized that the militarization of many areas of Mexico in the “war on drugs” had led to an increase in excessive use of force and in levels of impunity, and a record number of human rights violations. 54 Special procedures and other human rights mechanisms have documented international crimes and severe violations of human rights in Mexico between 2006 and the present, in the context of the so-called “war on drugs”.55 32. The “war on drugs” approach in many other States has cost the lives of thousands of people and caused serious human rights violations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has said that it is “vital that we examine the effectiveness of the war-on-drugs approach and its consequences for human rights”. 56 The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has emphasized that the right to life should be respected and protected by law enforcement agencies in their efforts to address drug-related crimes, and only proportional force should be used, when necessary (see A/HRC/30/65). Special procedure mandate holders have stated that “allegations of drug-trafficking offences should be judged in a court of law, not by gunmen on the streets”.57 33. Similarly, the International Narcotics Control Board has stated that extrajudicial responses to drug-related criminality are in clear violation of the international drug control conventions, which require that drug-related crime be addressed through formal criminal justice responses, as well as of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which require adherence to internationally recognized fair trial and due process norms and standards. 58 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 Submissions by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and Human Rights Watch. See https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=180208-otp-stat. See https://ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23178&LangID=E. See www.oas.org/es/cidh/informes/pdfs/mexico2016-es.pdf. See A/HRC/26/36; A/HRC/28/68/Add.3; www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/mexique715anglais-1_final.pdf, p. 15; and the submission from the Mexican Commission for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights. See www.un.org/press/en/2017/sgsm18585.doc.htm. See www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20388&LangID=E. See www.incb.org/incb/en/publications/annual-reports/annual-report-2017.html, para. 256. 7