HUMAN rights watchdog Amnesty International has named President Rodrigo Duterte, US President Donald Trump, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt among the leaders “callously undermining the rights of millions.”
This marks the second consecutive year that Duterte has been identified with the worst performing leaders in terms of their record in upholding human rights, according to Joel Noel Olano, AI section director.
Amnesty International secretary general Salil Shetty said hatred and fear had become visible and widespread in world affairs.
But Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Thursday the US Intelligence report tagging Duterte a threat to democracy in Southeast Asia was a plot by the Central Intelligence Agency to overthrow the Duterte administration.
Duterte has been waging a bloody war against illegal drugs and forging closer ties with China, a country claiming ownership of virtually all of the South China Sea.
Roque made his statement in a radio interview after Duterte was listed by the Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community as one of the Southeast Asian leaders that pose a threat to democracy and human rights.
The US Intelligence Community is a federation of 16 government agencies that work separately and together to conduct intelligence to support the foreign policy and national security of the US.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said the report saying Duterte is a threat to democracy was not surprising.
“What does the Duterte government expect from the international community, accolades?” Hontiveros said.
She said the report merely confirmed the growing isolation of the country from the international community and the already prevalent global opinion that Duterte’s governance is contrary to the generally accepted principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
She also said the report was an international embarrassment to the Philippines.
“It brings profound shame to our countrymen and women, especially those who are stationed abroad,” Hontiveros said.
Sought for his comment on the report, Senator Win Gatchalian said all Filipinos were aware that Duterte always spoke with exaggeration.
Amnesty International said there had been no credible investigation into the widespread extrajudicial executions in the Philippines, which could amount to crimes against humanity.
The group said the Philippines and Myanmar were the leading countries in Southeast Asia that were abusing their power against suspected criminals, which had led to thousands of deaths.
The Philippines was called out for the “war on drugs” and its implementation in the urban poor communities, while Myanmar was scored for its crimes against the Ronghiya.
AI also mentioned the internal armed conflict in the Philippines, the attacks to human rights defenders, and the threats to the Filipinos’ freedom of expression as the reason for including Duterte in the list.
The group said the spate of killings in the Philippines of alleged drug offenders again appeared in its list of major human rights issues.
“Meaningful investigations into the killings of alleged drugs offenders failed to take place; no police officers were known to have been held to account. Relatives of victims continued to be fearful of reprisals if they filed complaints against the police,” AI’s report read.
The report mentioned the the authorities’ continuing denial of responsibility over the killings.
AI on February 2017 released a report on the Philippines’ cases of extrajudicial killings, with data from the Philippine National Police and media suggesting at least 7,000 killings at the time.
“We did communicate to the PNP if in fact these are the numbers, but we never received any comment or information from the PNP on the matter of extra-judicial executions,” Olano said.
While they could not verify the PNP’s claim that it had become more “professional” in conducting its anti-illegal drug operations, Olano said, it was possible that the killings had deescalated.
“We cannot verify if, in fact, there’s been a decrease because what has happened, what is observable, is there’s been less reports in media. But that doesn’t mean there’s been less killings,” Olano said.
“There’s no actual empirical data to show that there is a decrease. What we know is that maybe it is not on the same scale as before, but it is still happening.”