Duterte to continue drug war as he faces United Nations probe
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte will continue his war on drugs despite a United Nations resolution that seeks to investigate alleged human rights abuses by the police, according to the presidential palace.
“We shall remain unrelenting in our campaign against illegal drugs, corruption, criminality and terrorism,” Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea said in a statement yesterday, rejecting “in the strongest terms” the resolution issued by the UN Human Rights Council.
“No resolution from any international council, especially those led by states that are misinformed about the situation in our country, shall weaken our resolve to effectively protect our people’s lives, their properties and their freedoms,” he added.
The council on July 11 ordered the human rights office to present a comprehensive report as it expressed concerns about human rights violations in the Philippines. The body adopted a resolution that Iceland proposed and 17 other nations supported.
The council urged the government to cooperate with UN offices by allowing visits by its officials and by “refraining from all acts of intimidation or retaliation.”
The resolution also called on the Philippines “take all necessary measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable.”
Mr. Medialdea said minority members of the council had “short-circuited and rendered inutile” the time-honored mechanisms by which the UN maintains the accountability of member-states, such as the treaty body system and the universal periodic review.
“The Philippine government sees the resolution for what it is — a pernicious act, an affront to a sovereign, peace-loving nation, and an abuse of UNHRC processes,” according to the statement.
Philippine police have said they have killed more than 6,000 people in illegal drug raids, many of them resisting arrest. Some local nongovernmental organizations and the national Commission on Human Rights have placed the death toll at more than 27,000.
