MANILA, Philippines — Human rights groups denounced on Thursday President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest tirade against them during which he ordered security forces to shoot activists for “obstructing” justice.
Speaking at the anniversary of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, Duterte again made plain his disdain for the Commission on Human Rights, a constitutional body, threatening to have it investigated for “conspiracy” because “galit ako sa inyo (I am angry at you).”
Responding to this, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said: “The Commission wishes to reiterate that it is merely doing its constitutional duty and it remains hopeful that the government will recognize that the guarantee of equal protection of the law as well as fair and impartial trial including investigation is a constitutional right available to every Filipino.”
But the rights groups Karapatan and Human Rights Watch were not as restrained in their reactions to the latest threat from Duterte, who has repeatedly cursed critics of his “war against drugs,” which has claimed thousands of lives since last year.
And while refusing to acknowledge personal responsibility for these deaths, he has also appeared to egg them on, encouraging citizens to kill drug pushers and addicts, vowing to pardon policemen convicted of murdering drug suspects and, at the VACC anniversary, praising the deaths of 32 suspects in a sweep in Bulacan province and saying a daily toll of this many lives might “reduce what ails this country.”
Karapatan accused Duterte of waging “fascist campaigns against poor Filipinos – the war on drugs, his counter-insurgency war, and martial law in Mindanao” as it pointed out that “it has long been an open season for killings of human rights defenders.”
The group said 474 rights defenders were killed during the nine-year presidency of Gloria Macapaga-Arroyo, 139 during the term of Benigno Aquino III and 50 in the year since Duterte assumed office — a total of 663 in 16 years.
“Duterte’s pronouncements, as policy statements, are making the situation worse,” Karapatan said.
HRW, on the other hand, said Duterte’s latest pronouncement “places all members of the country’s human rights community in grave danger” and demanded that he “immediately withdraw his statement or be investigated for possibly instigating or inciting violence against Philippine human rights advocates.”
Phelim Kine, the international watchdog’s deputy Asia director, said Duterte was “painting a target on the backs of courageous people working to protect the rights and upholding the dignity of all Filipinos.”
“Duterte should retract his reprehensible remarks immediately before there is more blood on his hands,” Kine said.
HRW noted this was not the first time Duterte has threatened to kill human rights defenders, saying he did so in December 2016 when he accused them of encouraging drug use and, a month later, “warning that he would extend his anti-drug campaign to the lawyers of alleged drug users and dealers.”
“His call on police to consider human rights advocates legitimate drug-war targets is a sinister escalation in his rhetoric,” it said.
“Duterte is on notice that his death threats against human rights advocates could pave the way for prosecution for crimes against humanity,” Kine said. “Duterte’s assault on accountability highlights the urgent need for a UN-led international investigation into his drug-war slaughter.”
WATCH REUTERS TV’S REPORT ON THE ‘BLOODIEST DAY’ IN THE WAR ON DRUGS:
