MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte castigated Iceland after it sponsored a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) calling for an investigation into the country’s human rights situation.
Duterte on Friday slammed Iceland and other European countries for not knowing the “social, economic, and political problems” of the Philippines.
“They don’t understand the social, political problems of the Philippines. Hindi maintindihan ng… na may problema tayo,” Duterte said.
“Iceland, ano ang problema ng Iceland? Ice lang. That’s your problem you have too much ice and there is no clear day or night there,” he added. “So you can understand why there is no crime, there (are) no policemen, and they just go about eating ice.”
Duterte said there are still a lot of works to do about the drug situation in the country especially with the majority of village councilors and some mayors who are linked to the illegal drug trade.
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 the “staggering number” of “violent and unlawful killings of drug suspects.”
Meanwhile, Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Philippines’ refusal to the UNHRC resolution has its consequences.
“Of course, it can continue to reject the call of the international community, it can continue to ignore the calls from within the Philippines itself, it can continue to do all of those things,” Callamard said.
“However, I think every refusal will eventually have a much higher price that it does right now. Eventually, there will be a cost attached to the denial and to the violations,” she added.
Callamard said the consequences can take on many shapes – it can be sanctions, it can be something related to the assistance, developmental assistance but last will be remedy.
“I’m hoping that the resolution is sending a signal to the government that they must proceed with the recommendations which are: investigate properly all the killings that have taken place at the hands of the police, put an end to the brutal war on drugs, and adopt a human rights based approach to fighting crimes,” Callamard said. “What we really, really want is for the government to do the right thing.”/PN
