Global rights watchdogs tag Duterte as violator
Global rights watchdogs tag Duterte as violator
By Satur Ocampo
Going into its last year in office – with President Duterte saying he’s “somewhat sold on the idea” of running for vice president in next year’s elections – his government has been put on the global spotlight this week for reported human rights violations.
The spotlighting came from three global human rights watchdogs, each separately issuing its damning report.
One report listed the Philippines as among the “ten worst countries for working people” in 2021, where trade unionists have been killed and have restricted access to justice, among other serious problems.
A second report included President Duterte as one of the 37 heads of state/government in its 2021 list of “press freedom predators.”
The third report scored the escalating violence in what it called the government’s “war on dissent” and “war against the Moro people,” as it pursues its “war against the poor” (referring to the “war on drugs”). The “systematic killing” used in the drug war has been applied in the intensified counterinsurgency campaign since 2018, it noted, pointing out that both the “wars” against dissent and the Moro people are “strongly influenced by US policy and support.”
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