No probe allowed based on Iceland resolution – DFA

MANILA, Philippines — It’s final. The Duterte administration will not allow investigation of alleged drug-related killings in the country laid down in a recently approved United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said.

“Any probe resulting from the narrow vote for Iceland resolution will not be allowed into the Philippines,” Locsin said in a Twitter post on Friday night.

“I have long wanted international cooperation on the drug war, (such as the United States Drug Enforcement Agency), Russia. Never from people who don’t shower at least once daily and likely on cartel payroll. Period,” he added.

In another tweet, the secretary also scored the countries that supported the resolution, saying they were “authors of the Holocaust of the Jews, murderers of Anne Frank and of their colonial populations.”

He also agreed with President Duterte’s earlier criticism of Iceland, particularly on its problem being limited to having too much ice and the lack of clear day and night.

“You gotta admit, this is pretty good and sums up Iceland quite neatly. But there is crime its tininess notwithstanding; and along with crime a blossoming crime novel industry,” Locsin wrote.

The UNHRC on Thursday narrowly approved the resolution on the human rights situation in the Philippines, with 18 of the body’s 47 members supporting the proposal forwarded by Iceland.  Fourteen countries, including the Philippines, voted against it. The remaining 15 UNHRC members abstained.

The resolution expressed deep concern over allegations of threats, intimidation and personal attacks directed against UN special rapporteurs, as well as welcomed the Philippine government’s statement that it would let independent experts conduct an assessment of the human rights situation in the country.

It urged the government to “to take all necessary measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable, in accordance with international norms and standards, including on due process and the rule of law.”

It also called on the Duterte administration to cooperate with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in facilitating country visits and preventing and refraining from all acts of intimidation or retaliation. – Emmanuel Tupas, Cecille Suerte Felipe