Karapatan: 'Hypocritical' for Trump to discuss human rights with Duterte
In a statement released Sunday, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay called the anticipated talk on human rights between the two leaders a “one big sick joke.” MPC POOL
MANILA, Philippines — Expect empty talk.
People should anticipate nothing from the discussion on human rights between President Rodrigo Duterte and United States President Donald Trump if they even talk about it, a rights group warned ahead of the American leader’s visit to the country.
In a statement released Sunday, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay called the anticipated talk on human rights between the two leaders “one big sick joke.”
“On the grounds of what both Duterte and Trump has done and are continuously doing, it is not that they do not understand the concept of human and people’s rights, it is that they just do not care for it,” she said.
Trump is expected to arrive in the country on Sunday, November 12 to attend the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Related Meetings.
“We expect Trump to talk about human rights with such a record? This is a different level of shamelessness, hypocrisy and pretense. The Trump administration is allocating more for the destruction and plunder of nations,” Palabay said.
The United States has spent $4.3 trillion in its wars in Asia and the Middle East from September 2001 to 2017, according to a report published by Brown University’s Watson Institute. The Trump administration has already dropped 32, 801 bombs in at least seven countries in Asia and the Middle East in 2017 alone, Karapatan said.
“Is it resolving the fundamental issues plaguing our country and other countries in which the US has waged its interventionist wars? On the contrary, the problem is escalating, and so is the bombing, the military spending, and the human rights violations,” the Karapatan secretary general said.
READ: Trump asked to ensure $32-million PNP aid not used to violate rights
Continuing militarization in the Philippines
Palabay added the same militarist framework is being adapted in the Philippines.
The group has received reports of at least 12 incidents of aerial bombings in different parts of the country, mostly in Marawi City, which the government declared liberated in October after being besieged by terrorists since May.
“Following the US’ militarist, and fascist ways, Duterte remains keen on implementing his US-directed counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, alongside martial law and other anti-poor and anti-people state policies," Palabay said.
Duterte’s war on drugs has also been criticized both locally and internationally for its transgressions of human rights of drug suspects.
According to the estimates by rights groups and government critics, more than 12,000 people have been killed in the course of the crackdown on illegal drugs.
The government has disputed these numbers. According to the latest #RealNumbersPH data release, there have been 3,967 drug suspects killed in government operations since July 2016. Government officials, including Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, said all of those killed were drug pushers.
The data releases no longer include information on "deaths under investigation," a tally of murders and homicides that police have yet to determine motives for.
Palabay urged Filipinos to make Duterte and Trump accountable for the violations they instigated.
READ: Leaders urged to bring up regional rights issues at APEC, ASEAN
Human rights unlikely to be on agenda
Duterte and Trump will likely talk about the North Korean threat and the overall security situation in the region, particularly the South China Sea dispute. Human rights is unlikely to be on the agenda.
Before departing to Vietnam for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meeting, Duterte said he wants the US leader to lay off the topic of human rights during their first bilateral meeting.
“Lay off, that is not your business. That is my business. I take care of my country,” the chief executive said.
Complaining about being singled out by the international community for drug-related killings and abuses, Duterte on Friday offered to host a human rights summit in the Philippines to discuss all human rights violations of all governments.
Trump and Duterte had a brief encounter when they bumped into each other during a break at APEC Leaders’ Forum at Da Nang, Vietnam Saturday.
“See you tomorrow,” Trump was quoted saying Saturday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque described the meeting as “warm and cordial.”
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