No resolution endorsed by a small faction in the United Nations rights body would weaken the government’s resolve to protect the people from the threats of illegal drugs and criminality, Malacañang declared last night.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea dismissed the Iceland-led resolution seeking a report on the drug war as “a pernicious act, an affront to a sovereign, peace-loving nation, and an abuse of United Nations Human Rights Council processes.”
“This unfortunate development notwithstanding, the Philippine government shall continue with its work of ensuring peace, order, and security for our people. We shall remain unrelenting in our campaign against illegal drugs, corruption, criminality, and terrorism,” he 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 government rejects “in the strongest terms” the resolution adopted by the UNHRC that seeks a report on the alleged extrajudicial killings in relation to the anti-drug campaign.
He said it was unfortunate the 18 countries who voted in favor of the resolution have “unceremoniously” grabbed the UN platform to call out the country’s human rights situation without verifying facts on the ground.
The faction consisting of a mere 18 countries was “a small group relative to the 47-strong membership of the council, and smaller still in view of the total UN membership of 193 countries,” he added.
“We reject this resolution because, through it, a minority has short-circuited and rendered inutile the time-honored mechanisms by which the UN maintains the accountability of member-states, such as the treaty body system and the UNHRC’s Universal Periodic Review,” Medialdea said.
He argued that the country has abided by the UN mechanisms that give due credence to member-states’ accountability and transparency. “It is through such mechanisms that the human rights concerns mentioned in the resolution should have been taken up, verified, and addressed,” he added.
Medialdea has urged the international community to listen more to the Filipino people instead of a few political groups about the country’s human rights situation. (Genalyn Kabiling)
