Nations critique Filipino leader’s rights record at UN body
GENEVA — A Filipino senator briskly defended the human rights record of President Rodrigo Duterte’s government before a U.N. body on Monday, saying his government always “seeks to uphold the rule of law” while critical Western nations aired concerns about deadly vigilante justice and extrajudicial killings in the country.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano came before the U.N.’s Human Rights Council equipped with a slide show and video excerpts of previous comments by Duterte about the Philippines’ fight against illegal drug trafficking, repeating claims that critics are smearing the Filipino government’s record and urging a distinction between “fake news” and real news.
“One: There is no state-sponsored killing in the Philippines. Two: There is no sudden wave of killings,” Cayetano said. “We are asking you — through the mechanisms of this honourable council — to interview our people, to go to our communities, to visit the Philippines and to see for yourself: The truth, the real numbers.”
“At all times, the Duterte government seeks to uphold the rule of law,” he added.