President Rodrigo Duterte said he cried after former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein told him he should seek a psychiatrist for using profanities and for his improper behavior.
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He recalled the incident as he again slammed the International Criminal Court for saying he committed crimes against humanity in connection with his administration’s war on drugs.
“Their president [in the UN High Commission on Human Rights] said, ‘Duterte you need to see a psychiatrist’,” the President said in his speech during a business forum.
“I was in tears. The people hurt me,” Duterte said.
He said he was then planning to visit Jordan, but he canceled it after recognizing Al Hussein was the cousin of Jordanian King Abdullah II that he recently met in September.
In March 2018, Al Hussein said Duterte, with his controversial drug war and behavior, should “submit himself to some sort of psychiatric evaluation.”
Al Hussein made the remark after Duterte threatened to slap UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard for criticizing his campaign against illegal drugs.
“This is absolutely disgraceful that the president of a country could speak in this way, using the foulest of language against a rapporteur that is highly respected,” he said.
Duterte, however, remained unapologetic for his campaign, saying human rights advocates were ignorant.
“They just don’t know how deep corruption runs in this and how shallow is the human fragility,” he said in the same speech.
