MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte’s antidrug campaign will remain unrelenting despite calls from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to conduct a probe into the deadly campaign, according to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
Medialdea on Monday said the administration is rejecting “in the strongest terms” the Iceland-led resolution adopted by the UNHRC last week.
“We shall remain unrelenting in our campaign against illegal drugs, corruption, criminality, and terrorism,” Medialdea said.
“And 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.
Medialdea said the resolution had “short-circuited and rendered inutile the time-honored mechanisms by which the UN maintains the accountability of member-states.”
“The Philippines has been abiding by these mechanisms in which human rights concerns mentioned in the resolution should have been taken up, verified and addressed,” Medialdea said.
“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,” he added.
“And we believe that many, if not most of the UNHRC members, see it in the same light, as shown by the contentious vote leading up to the resolution, with the majority either abstaining or voting against it,” Medialdea said.
The UNHRC has adopted a resolution at the 41st regular session of the council in Geneva. Of the 47 member-states, 18 voted in favor of conducting an investigation into the Philippines’ drug war.
Independent experts earlier urged the UNHRC to launch an independent investigation into “a sharp deterioration in human rights across the Philippines due to a staggering number of violent and unlawful killings of drug suspects.”/PN
