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SONA 2020

Duterte says his administration 'will not dodge' human rights obligation


President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said his government "will not dodge" its obligation to fight for human rights.

"My administration always believed that freedom from illegal drugs, terrorism, corruption, and criminality is itself a human rights violation," the President said in his fifth State of the Nation Address.

The Duterte administration has been widely criticized for its campaign against illegal drugs, which has killed thousands of alleged drug peddlers, many of them poor. Human rights groups have condemned alleged extrajudicial killings in connection with the so-called war on drugs.

In June, the United Nations human rights chief reported that many of such extrajudicial killings have been met with "near impunity."

In his SONA, Duterte added that part of the government's human rights efforts is the protection of  the rights of children and the right against discrimination. He cited his signing of Executive Order No. 92, which created the National Council Against Child Labor.

"Government efforts to protect the rights of children will be amplified to prevent, reduce, and eliminate any form of child labor. Our achievements along this line... have been extolled by an overwhelming number of fellow member-states in the UN Human Rights Council during its recently held 44th session last June," Duterte said.

"Rest assured that we will not dodge our obligation to fight for human rights," he said.

In the council's session, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, representing the Philippines, said the government has created an inter-agency committee that will review police anti-drug operations that resulted in deaths.

Human rights groups said the creation of the review panel was a form of "damage control" amid international criticism on the human rights situation in the country.—AOL, GMA News

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