Rodrigo Duterte Threatens To Leave U.N. Amid Criticism On Approach To Drug Crime


Rodrigo Duterte made some insulting remarks about the United Nations after the group urged the recently-elected Filipino president to stop the killings of people related to drug crimes and uphold human rights.

While speaking to the press on Sunday in his hometown in Davao City, Duterte responded to the U.N.’s call to stop extrajudicial killings over drug crime, CNN reported.

“Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations.”

He also expressed his disdain at how the U.N. responded to the Philippines’ plight in the past, indicating the country’s lack of need for such organization.

“Take us out of your organization. You have done nothing anyway,” he said.

Rodrigo Duterte, the 71-year-old lawyer-turned-politician, who is now the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines, promised to rid the country of crime and drugs during his campaign in just six months of his tenure should he be elected as president.

This ambitious statement earned Rodrigo Duterte 6 million votes during the May, 2016, Philippine National Elections where he beat four other candidates in the presidential race.

Since he took oath in July, Duterte’s administration already recorded around 900 killings by unknown attackers and another 665 during encounters with law enforcement authorities.

Because of this, experts from the U.N. called for a stop of the unlawful killings of people suspected to be related to drug crimes, per a report in the official website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner.

“We call on the Philippines authorities to adopt with immediate effect the necessary measures to protect all persons from targeted killings and extrajudicial executions,” said Agnes Callamard, the new U.N. Special Rapporteur on summary executions.

In the statement, Callamard pointed out that the battle against trade of illegal drugs does not shield the government from its binding obligations to uphold “the right to life and security of every person in the country, whether suspected of criminal offenses or not.”

Meanwhile, Dainius Puras, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to health explained that while the government may have the need to respond to drug crime in the country, it still has the responsibility to maintain “full compliance with national and international obligations and should respect the human rights of each person.”

“Concerning drug-dependency, this should be treated as a public health issue and justice systems that decriminalize drug consumption and possession for personal use as a means to improve health outcomes,” he added.

But instead of heeding the call of the U.N., Duterte shot them down with blunt and words on Sunday’s press conference in Davao.

I don’t give a sh*t about them. They are the ones interfering. You do not just go out and give a sh*tting statement against a country,” the Radio Times quoted him saying.

At the time, Duterte dubbed the international organization as “inutil,” a Filipino colloquial term for “useless,” and warned that he may be tempted to create a separate international body that would rival the U.N. with the help of other nations like China and others.

During his speech, Rodrigo Duterte also pointed out the lack of response from the United States on the war killings and destructive bombings in Syria, making an example of the 5-year-old Syrian boy whose image recently became a viral topic all over the globe.

Even when he was still the mayor of the southern city of Davao, Rodrigo Duterte has been known to be an outspoken and tough-talking leader, making his latest statements no surprise to those who know him well.

[Photo by Jes Aznar/Getty Images]

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