UN only paying lip service to drug war – Yasay

MANILA, Philippines – The United Nations is only paying lip service to the fight against illegal drugs and is even prejudging the involvement of law enforcers in summary executions of suspected drug offenders, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said on Monday.

“The UN is just making mere lip service, stymied by the most vocal who seem to protect the illegal drugs trade,” Yasay said.

“This is the kind of frustration we must express. We must also understand the UN is not the solution but we must all be active participants,” he told journalists at the Japan-ASEAN Media Forum at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

He said the UN rapporteurs’ observation regarding the prevalence of extrajudicial killings in the conduct of the Duterte administration’s war on illegal drugs was based only on media reports.

The UN human rights experts, he said, “simply assumed the extrajudicial killings were done by the police.”

“If they made request after they prejudged, that’s reflective, they can’t look at matters more objectively. It must be based on verified findings,” Yasay said.

He said malicious and unfounded reports of human rights violations should not be used to bring the issue to international courts.

He expressed frustration at the world body’s seeming lack of support for the global war on drugs.

In the ASEM Summit last month, Yasay noted the administration’s anti-drug campaign was never mentioned at all. 

The DFA chief emphasized, however, the Philippines will never leave the UN despite the administration’s disappointment with the world body.

Yasay also called on the global community to support the country’s intensified drive against the illegal drug trade.

He said President Duterte’s statement against the UN was made out of frustration and that he was not threatening to disengage the country from the UN.