PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday hit out at “stupid” United Nations’ criticism of his controversial crime war that has claimed 1,000 lives, warning the global body not to interfere.
The political outsider, who swept to a landslide election victory in May largely on a pledge to kill tens of thousands of criminals, said he would continue his anti-drug crackdown despite mounting criticism, including from UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
“Why would the United Nations be so easily swayed into interfering in the affairs of this republic? There are only 1,000 (killed),” he said at an event marking the 115th anniversary of the police force.
Ban Ki-moon in June condemned Duterte’s apparent support for extra-judicial killings, saying they were “illegal and a breach of fundamental rights and freedoms”.
The UN’s anti-drugs office also this month said it was “greatly concerned” by reports of extra-judicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users in the Philippines.
The UN has made “a very stupid proposition”, Duterte said, warning them not to meddle in the country’s politics.
“What’s the problem? You inject politics. Only one thousand died and you put my country in peril, in jeopardy,” he said.
He told foreign human rights watchdogs not to “investigate us as though we are criminals,” and warned they would not be treated well in the Philippines.
Duterte, who took office on June 30, ordered a bloody war on crime that has left 1,054 people dead since the May elections, according toABS-CBN.
This includes people killed in police operations, and more than 400 people murdered by mysterious vigilantes.
Duterte won the election on a promise to wage a war on illegal drugs and other crime that would claim tens of thousands of lives.
He has ordered police not to hesitate to kill and even urged ordinary citizens and communist guerrillas to join in the bloodshed.
He has repeatedly scoffed at human rights groups opposed to the killings.
The Foreign Affairs Department said Thursday the Duterte administration does not condone extrajudicial killings.
In a text message, DFA spokesman Charles Jose noted that President Duterte has already ordered an investigation into the killings of supsected drug users and pushers.
UN human rights experts, however, said allegations of drug trafficking should be judged in a court of law, not by gunment on the streets.
“We call on the Philippines authorities to adopt with immediate effect the necessary measures to protect all persons from targeted killings and extrajudicial executions,” said the new UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard.
“Claims to fight illicit drug trade do not absolve the Government from its international legal obligations and do not shield State actors or others from responsibility for illegal killings,” Callamard said. “The State has a legally binding obligation to ensure the right to life and security of every person in the country, whether suspected of criminal offences or not.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius PÅ«ras, noted that “however necessary, responses to the illicit drug trade must be carried out in full compliance with national and international obligations and should respect the human rights of each person.”
“Concerning drug-dependency, this should be treated as a public health issue and justice systems that decriminalize drug consumption and possession for personal use as a means to improve health outcomes,” PÅ«ras said.
A United Nations official commentary on President Duterte’s latest tirades against the international agency scored the ongoing “war against drugs” of the administration as a “human rights disaster unfolding in real time.”
Mark Leon Goldberg, managing editor of the UN’s official news and commentary forum, the UN Dispatch, described Duterte as the “new bombastic and brash President of the Philippines” and a “threatening individual in global affairs.”
“This is a war on drugs like no other on earth,” he added.
