Populist leaders like Duterte made 2016 one of the worst years for human rights –Amnesty Int'l 

Human rights group Amnesty International (AI) on Thursday said the rise of populist leaders across the globe, including President Rodrigo Duterte, made 2016 one of the worst years as far as human rights are concerned.

Wilnor Papa, AI local campaigns manager, said the rhetoric of leaders like Duterte, US President Donald Trump, and Turkish President Reccep Erdo?an pins the blame on a certain group of people for the problems besetting their respective countries.

"2016 is probably one of the worst years siguro for human rights na kung saan maraming mga leaders, ayon sa pagsasaliksik ng Amnesty International and it's also very obvious, na yung kanilang rhetoric is for us to hate a certain group of people because they are the ones to blame for our problems right now," Papa said in an interview on "News To Go."

"Palagi nilang sinasabi na yung Pilipinas is all about the drugs and drug addicts, sa US is about the immigrants, sa Europe is the refugees. Sa ibang bansa worst-case scenario is the women or members of the LGBT community. Ganito palagi, we need people to blame but we have no choice but to blame them," he added.

Papa said the rise of populist leaders could be due to the government's failure to address the pressing problems of the people. 

"Years before, AI predicted that these things will happen if governments will not focus on the problems of the people. Yung una yung kawalan ng respeto sa karapatang pantao, poverty, education, work," Papa said.

For the Philippines, which received a special mention in the AI's annual report released on Wednesday, Papa said this included solving the illegal drug problem even if it means killing suspects. 

"Itong mga bagay na 'to na matagal na nating problema, hinayaan natin and then dumating sa point na kung saan yung mga tao naging frustrated, naging desperate at they will hold on to promises even if the promises include, in the case of the Philippines, killing," he said.

"We have made our criminal justice system weaker... we are not respecting the rule of law and we are not respecting the right to due process," he added.

Papa said this trend could lead to lawlessness. "Dahil ganito na ang sitwasyon ngayon, hindi ako magugulat na darating ang panahon ang solusyon kahit sa personal altercation ay magpatayan kasi inalis natin yung tiwala lalo sa criminal justice system."

Papa emphasized that AI stands by its report, which he said should be used to intensify investigations on the alleged extrajudicial killings in Duterte's war on drugs.

"We stand by our report. Yung mga bagay na 'to ay public records pa. The report says it all but the thing is we want not just the senate, but the government to investigate the killings," he said. —Joseph Tristan Roxas/KBK, GMA News