Duterte slams rights group about Rohingya Muslims

By Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines

President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday slammed human rights advocates for their criticisms of his anti-drug war but ignored the sad plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

The President noted that Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize awardee, failed to address the crisis in Rohingya where hundreds have been killed. “Look at what’s happening in Burma.

She (Aung San Suu Kyi) is a Nobel prize winner,” Duterte said at the closing ceremony of a Business Conference in southern Philippine Cagayan de Oro City as quoted by Inquirer online.

Duterte cited that despite being at the center of the international news, human rights groups have not criticized Suu Kyi for her failure to resolve the crisis in Myanmar where Rohingya Muslims are “being brutalized there”.

However, contrary to Duterte’s statement, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has responded to the Rohingya crisis and has urged the UN to hold a public emergency meeting.

It also wants the UN to warn the Myanmarese authorities that they will face severe sanctions unless they put an end to the brutal campaign against the Rohingya community.

He added that only Beijing and Moscow have appreciated his administration’s campaign and have not thrown any criticism on the killings in Manila.

HRW, in a press statement, Saturday, called for a UN investigation into Duterte’s drug war following the death of teenagers in police operations recently. "The apparent extrajudicial executions by Philippine police of two children over a three-day period underscores the need for a United Nations inquiry into President Rodrigo Duterte’s abusive 'war on drugs.'

While several dozen children under 18 have died in drug war-related killings since June 2016, circumstances suggest that the Philippine National Police (PNP) deliberately targeted the two children,"HRW’s statement said as quoted by GMA News.

"Duterte’s rejection of the rule of law has made all Filipinos potential ‘drug-war’ victims, no matter how young,” the statement added.

In response, Duterte said “those human rights (advocates)… shut up.”