Almost 3,800 people have been killed in the Philippines in the campaign against illegal drugs trade since Rodrigo Duterte won the May elections in a landslide victory and came to power.
Before becoming the President, Duterte vowed to kill tens of thousands of criminals and to get rid of illegal drugs in the country in six months. However, recently he asked for some more time to complete his crackdown.
Referring to his promise, Duterte said last month: "I did not realise how severe and how serious the drug menace was in this republic until I became president."
Duterte's critics say the president allowed to develop an atmosphere of lawlessness that helped criminal groups to settle vendettas with impunity.
Reports say almost 1,500 of those who have died in police operations but most of the killings were carried out by armed groups. At times, those killings were publicly encouraged by Duterte.