Duterte says UN 'useless,' advises Suu Kyi to ignore rights groups

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said that the United Nations had "no purpose" and admitted to have advised Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi to ignore human rights groups critical of her response to the Rohingya crisis in her country.

According to the president, the United Nations has not been able to prevent any war or massacre from happening, his latest tirade against the world body which has criticized his ferocious campaign against illegal drugs.

"The United Nations has no purpose at all actually for mankind as far as I'm concerned," Duterte said in his extemporaneous speech before Indian businessmen.

"With all its unutility (sic), it has not prevented any war. It has not prevented any massacre," the chief executive added.

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According to an analysis of more than 65 years of voting records conducted by Dartmouth College and The Ohio State University, the UN has been effective in its mandate of avoiding wars than many experts think.

The study, released in July last year, said that the UN acted more than just a bystander of world events and provided a forum for diplomacy needed to reduce the chances of war.

Duterte also justified that thousands of deaths related to his campaign against drugs, saying he could not stomach allowing his country to self-destruct.

The president, who is on his last day of visit to India, revealed that he advised Suu Kyi to ignore human rights groups and activists whom he described as just a "noisy bunch."

READ: Duterte curses at UN, tells it to shut up

He added that their criticism of his government over his drug war and that of Myanmar over its response to the Rohingya crisis which had led to the mass migration of hundreds of thousands of refugees into neighboring Bangladesh was just part of the West's continuing imperialism.

"Aung San Suu Kyi was with us. I pity her, because she seems to be caught in the middle being a Nobel prize winner for peace and there is the ruckus where she is heavily criticized," Duterte said.

"I said, 'Do not mind the human rights. They are just a noisy bunch actually,'" the chief executive added.

Suu Kyi's government has been criticized for what the UN calls as "textbook ethnic cleansing" for its soldiers' brutal attacks on the Rohingya minority which started after Rohingya rebels attacked police outposts.

Duterte said that libertarians had been emphasizing human rights too much which could lead to the loss of a country's dignity and the derogation of its citizens.

READ: Duterte admits he was wrong about 6-month deadline vs drugs

"If you put human rights ahead in premium of values, then one day, just like the 4 million Filipinos in the Philippines, you would lose the dignity, you erode, derogate the dignity of your fellowmen," he said.

"Place a premium on human rights, then you derogate the dignity of your own people."

This is not the first time that Duterte has attacked the UN and human rights groups.

He has in the past threatened to remove the Philippines from the world body and at one point ordered security forces to shoot rights activists if they disrupt their operations.