MANILA – Detained senator Leila de Lima slammed a resolution recently adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which “absolved the government of its crimes against humanity.”
In a statement over the weekend, De Lima said the resolution could have strengthened human rights and accountability mechanisms in the country, but instead it failed to take concrete action against summary killings in the country.
“Hindi matitigil ng malabnaw at mababaw na mga hakbang ang laganap na karahasang ipinaiiral ng mga lasing sa kapangyarihan. It has been more than four years and Duterte’s bloodlust has still not been satiated,” De Lima said.
The UNHRC last week adopted a resolution asking UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to support the Philippines in fulfilling its international human rights obligations – not an independent probe.
According to De Lima, hundreds of attacks had been carried out “with brazen impunity” against government critics, activists and human rights defenders while more than 20,000 murders have taken place since 2016.
“Do we really expect this regime to stop the carnage and submit to technical cooperation and capacity building programs to promote the rights that it has been blatantly violating? No, we cannot tame a rabid mass murderer that is Duterte,” she stressed.
“We should therefore confront this issue tenaciously, with the goal of disarming and dismantling all the tools and evil mechanisms which promote violence and impunity,” she added.
With the outcome, De Lima reiterated the call for an independent international probe.
“We need to be more vigilant and well-informed in order not to be swayed by the deceptions and lies of government operators who curry favor with Duterte for selfish political interests. We vigorously assert our call for an independent international probe into the human rights crisis that continues to wreak havoc in our country,” she said./PN
