A PALACE official clarified Monday that the Philippines is "not decoupling" with the United Nations (UN), despite President Rodrigo Duterte's stern warning that the country may separate from it if the global organization continues to "intervene" in his drug war.
[T] he president has championed the rise in death toll - up from the 68 suspects
killed by police from January 1 through June 15 of this year - as proof of the "success" of his anti-drug
campaign, saying in mid-July that "while the campaign against drugs is far from ideal, a generation of Filipinos have been saved from this scourge of society and destroyer of lives",
according to AFP.
At a news conference on Sunday, Duterte took his support for these vigilantes to a new level,
threatening to leave the United Nations over
criticism that his directives for the public to
kill drug dealers amounted to "incitement to violence and killing, a crime under worldwide law". Duterte and his aides have given conflicting positions on whether they would allow United Nations experts to come to the Philippines to investigate allegations government security forces are carrying out extrajudicial killings.
At
a press conference on Monday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Junior
reiterated the Philippines' commitment to the United Nations and pleaded for sympathy. He also accused the United Nations of failing on terrorism, hunger and ending conflicts.
"Should you be that ill-mannered, we might just as well leave", he
said.
Earlier, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the government did not extend any invitation to any third-party observer, adding that the drug situation is being responsibly addressed by Philippine authorities. Duterte frequently peppers his public comments with swear words-he has also
called Pope Francis and the U.S. ambassador to Manila sons of whores-and days after his election win used typical language to criticize the UN.
Estimates for the number of drug-related extrajudicial killings under Duterte vary, but there's no disputing the fact that the body count is high.
As recently as Sunday, the number of suspected drug traffickers killed in Duterte's seven-week war on drugs had been put at about 900 by Philippine officials.
Duterte's drug crackdown has left more than 500 suspected dealers dead and more than 4,400 arrested since he took office on June 30. Duterte criticized the United Nations for its failure to stamp out terrorism, world hunger and other conflicts.
The police's "stand against extrajudicial killings is uncompromising", a police official said in a statement.
"If you are really true to your mandate, you could have stopped all these wars and killings?" said Mr Duterte in a rambling, two-hour news conference that began at 1am on Sunday. "I would invite maybe China, the African (nations)", he said.
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