UN Human Rights head: Duterte needs ‘psychiatric examination’

FILE: Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein (Photo: United Nations Human Rights/ Facebook)

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) chief, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte needs to see a psychiatrist.

“These attacks cannot go unanswered, the UN Human Rights Council must take a position,” Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said in a news conference on March 9, according to a Reuters report.

“It makes one believe that the president needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric examination. This kind of comment is unacceptable, unacceptable,” he added.

Zeid made the statement after the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a petition to formally identify a UN rapporteur and 648 other individuals as terrorists.

(Read: DOJ seeks to tag Joma Sison, UN rapporteur, 648 others as terrorists)

According to the petition, the list included UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Jose Maria Sison “Joma” Sison.

Other individuals listed were communist rebels from CPP and its armed group New People’s Army (NPA) a.k.a. Bagong Hukbong Bayan and National Democratic Front (NDF) peace negotiators Luis Jalandoni, Coni Ledesma, Randall Echanis, and Rafael Baylosis.

This was not the first time for Zeid to criticize Duterte.

In November last year, the UN Human Rights chief through his spokesperson slammed Duterte for his threats of slapping UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard.

(Read: UN condemns Duterte threats vs Callamard)

“The High Commissioner also deplores the repeated insults and threats of physical violence against the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, by the President of the Philippines and his supporters,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson of Zeid said.

In December, Zeid also said that it was “unthinkable for any functioning judicial system not to launch investigative and judicial proceedings when someone has openly admitted being a killer.”

He was referring to Duterte’s statements and speeches, admitting that he has killed people when he was the mayor of Davao city.

“In Davao, I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys that, if I can do it, why can’t you?” Duterte said then adding, “I go around in Davao with a motorcycle, with a big bike around and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble also. I was really looking for an encounter to be able to kill.”