{"id":269553,"date":"2020-09-23T01:16:24","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T05:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=269553"},"modified":"2020-09-23T01:16:24","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T05:16:24","slug":"duterte-vows-to-protect-human-rights-in-1st-unga-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/23\/duterte-vows-to-protect-human-rights-in-1st-unga-participation\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte vows to protect human rights in 1st UNGA participation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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He said these detractors merely pretended to be \u201chuman rights advocates\u201d but did not spare students from \u201cmalevolence and anti-government propaganda.\u201d (File: SIMEON CELI JR.\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday vowed to continue upholding the rights of Filipinos, in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).<\/p>\n

In his 20-minute speech, Duterte vowed to continue to protect the human rights of Filipinos, especially from \u201cthe scourge of illegal drugs, criminality, and terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also slammed several interest groups for \u201cweaponizing\u201d human rights to discredit his administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey attempt to discredit the functioning institutions and mechanisms of a democratic country and a popularly elected government, which in its last two years, still enjoy the same widespread approval and support,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He said these detractors merely pretended to be \u201chuman rights advocates\u201d but did not spare students from \u201cmalevolence and anti-government propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese detractors pass themselves off as human rights advocates while preying on the most vulnerable humans; even using children as soldiers or human shields in encounters,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

The President noted how they \u201chide their misdeeds under the blanket of human rights but the blood oozes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key to moving forward, he said, is through \u201copen dialogue and constructive engagement\u201d with the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Duterte, however, said this dialogue should be done \u201cin full respect of the principles of objectivity, noninterference, non-selectivity, and genuine dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the fundamental bases for productive international cooperation on human rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite his tiff with UN rapporteurs regarding his crackdown on illegal drugs, Duterte described the UN as \u201chumanity\u2019s essential organization\u201d but also said \u201cit is only as effective as we make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make significant changes, we need to be bold. We need the same collective courage that finally made the United Nations a reality 75 years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte emphasized the need to act on long-standing recommendations to improve the Security Council\u2019s composition and working methods; to strengthen the role of the General Assembly; and to streamline the processes and the operations of the UN.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us empower UN \u2013 reform it \u2013 to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. Let us strengthen it so it can fully deliver its mandate to maintain peace and security, uphold justice and human rights, and promote freedom and social progress for all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte, along with other world leaders, addressed the global body in its annual meeting of heads of state and government at the beginning of the General Assembly session.<\/p>\n

He was the 12th head of state to have his remarks aired at the UNGA High-Level Debate.<\/p>\n

For the first time in its history, the UN held its General Assembly virtually.\u00a0No world leader has traveled to New York this year because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday vowed to continue upholding the rights of Filipinos, in his speech before the United …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":258199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269559,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269553\/revisions\/269559"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}