A proposed law in the Phillipines could see children as young as nine years old sentenced to jail.

The new law is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte who won the elections in May after vowing to reduce crime and kill tens of thousands of drug dealers.

He has proposed that the age of criminality be reduced to discourage criminals from using minors as drug mules.

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In Duterte's view, the age when youngsters can be jailed should be reduced from 15 to 12. His allies are, however, pushing for it to be reduced to nine.

"Adult criminals knowingly and purposely make use of youth below 15 years of age to commit crimes such as drug trafficking," said Pantaleon Alvarez, one of the law's proponents.

The United Nations has condemned the plan, saying the country will be breaking international laws meant to protect children.

Manila is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that criminal responsibility below the age of 12 is not acceptable.

"Jail is no place for a child. It is alarming for children to be institutionalized. It will be retrogression on the part of the Philippines government," a statement from UNICEF said.

Meanwhile, a campaign called #childrennotcriminals has been launched by rights organizations in an effort to convince the government to reconsider the law.

Plan International is one of the said groups, and it says that children who find themselves in trouble with the law are often the victims of criminal gangs.

"It is unfair that it is always the children that are getting blamed," said Ernesto Almocera of Plan International. He added that jailing children will only serve to make them hardened criminals.

Approximately 2000 people have been killed in police operations since Duterte took office.

His government has been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings, but Duterte has dismissed the allegations.

TagsRodrigo Duterte, Philippines