MANILA, Philippines (First published at 5:26 p.m. on Sept. 12) — The top United Nations official for human rights condemned anew the supposed rights violations under President Rodrigo Duterte’s government, including the August 16 slay of a teenager in the hands of Caloocan City cops.
In his opening speech at the Human Rights Council 36th session on September 11, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, tagged the Philippines as among the countries with human rights issues.
Zeid specifically deplored the killing of Grade 11 student Kian Loyd delos Santos, whose death sparked public anger over the conduct of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
According to cops who seized the teenager in an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City, Delos Santos violently resisted arrest, prompting them to return fire.
But this claim had been questioned by eyewitness accounts and a CCTV footage showing Delos Santos being dragged by plainclothes policemen to a place where his dead body was later found.
Citing Duterte's promise to protect cops who would kill drug suspects who resist arrest, Zeid said he was “appalled” by the government's apparent “lack of respect” for due process.
READ: What some international groups say about the Philippine war on drugs
The UN rights chief also called out Duterte for his full support for cops carrying out his brutal war against suspected drug personalities.
“In the Philippines, I continue to be gravely concerned by the President's open support for a shoot-to-kill policy regarding suspects, as well as by the apparent absence of credible investigations into reports of thousands of extrajudicial killings, and the failure to prosecute any perpetrator,” Zeid said.
“This lack of respect for the due process rights of all Filipinos is appalling,” he added.
This was not the first time that Zeid slammed Duterte’s drug war.
READ: UN rights chief: Investigate Duterte for killings
Last year, the firebrand Philippine leader lashed out at Zeid for saying that he should be investigated for murder, calling the UN official a “joker” and an “idiot.”
Duterte easily won the race to Malacañang last year on a platform of weeding out crime and corruption by taking on a national level the tough measures he imposed during his long mayoralty in Davao City, including his deadly narcotics crackdown.
The campaign remains hugely popular, according to surveys, despite condemnations from human rights watchers who claimed that most of the fatalities in the drug war were extralegal killings committed by cops and vigilantes.
READ: Report: Patterns in drug killings suggest planning, police involvement
But with the death of Delos Santos, Duterte ordered the arrest of the policemen linked to the killing. Nonetheless, he said his war on drugs will continue.
The president later said the campaign was being “sabotaged” after two teenagers were subsequently killed by policemen in a separate operation in Caloocan.
In the same speech, Zeid also hit Duterte for his pronouncements ordering the police force to shoot human rights defenders as well as the case of detained Sen. Leila de Lima, one of the president’s fiercest critics.
Zeid also took the occasion to express his “shock” over Duterte’s threat to bomb Lumad schools allegedly run by communists and the administration’s plan to reimpose death penalty.
“Many human rights defenders who are the honour of their country face a growing number of death threats, and I call on the Government to ensure they are accorded full protection and the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without reprisals,” Zeid said.
On the countries with reported human rights abuses, Zeid remarked: "I also suggest consideration be given to the need to exclude from this body States involved in the most egregious violations of human rights."