EU calls on PH to end drug war, drop terror tags on UN rapporteur

Apart from President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, the MEPs also called for human rights defenders to be removed from the list of terrorists that the government released. (PCOO/Shutterstock photo)

The European Parliament called on the Philippine government to end the controversial campaign to eradicate illegal drugs and remove the terror tags on the human rights defenders included in the list of individuals declared as terrorists.

In European Parliament’s website, they wrote that the “Philippines should stop extrajudicial killings on the pretext of a ‘war on drugs.’”

“MEPs (Members of the Parliament) urge the Philippines authorities to stop extrajudicial killings and condemn them for trying to justify these murders with falsified evidence,” the web content read.

Apart from President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, the MEPs also called for human rights defenders to be removed from the list of terrorists that the government released. United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples (IPs) Victoria Tauli-Corpuz was included in the list of more than 600 individuals.

“The resolution also condemns the intimidation and the abuse of human rights defenders, activists, and journalists, and urges the government to stop the reintroduction of death penalty, which is against Philippines’ international obligations,” the content added.

The Party of European Socialists in a statement said that the European lawmakers passed the said resolution “by a large majority.”

Meanwhile, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano slammed the European Parliament and said that they “crossed a red line” by calling “for unwarranted actions against the Philippines.”

“This resolution that the European Parliament just adopted is based on biased, incomplete and even wrong information and does not reflect the true situation on the ground,” Cayetano said in a statement on Thursday.

“In case the members of the European Parliament are not aware of it, may we remind them that their recommended actions already constitute interference in the affairs of a sovereign state,” he added.

Cayetano stressed that as a sovereign state, the government expects all members of the international community to respect the Philippines’ “prerogative to determine national priorities and policies that are responsive to the needs of its people.”