Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano appealed to the United Nations General Assembly for the country to be allowed to manage its own domestic concerns as critics continue to criticize the government’s war on drugs.
“Our people expect that the sovereignty be respected. And that its democratically elected government’s assessment of threats and how to go about addressing them shall be accorded preeminence among nations, or at the very least, is it too much to ask for the benefit of the doubt?” Cayetano said.
He said the Philippines’ “comprehensive campaign against illegal drugs is a necessary instrument to preserve and protect human rights of all Filipinos.”
“It is never an instrument to violate any individuals’ or groups’ human right,” he said.
“While drug addiction calls for rehab, drug trafficking surely calls for stern measures though always consistent with the rule of law,” he added.
Cayetano cautioned other UN member-states against misinformation about its anti-illegal drugs campaign, and blamed the media for delivering inaccurate news.
“Headlines today about human-rights abuses but what about the headlines yesterday, wherein two-year-olds were being raped, wherein mothers were selling their children to feed their drug addiction?”
“We should never tolerate human rights abuses. But neither should we tolerate misinformation, fake news on and politicization of human rights,” Cayetano said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, through Cayetano, also welcomed the final adoption of the third Philippine Universal Periodic Review or UPR report by the 47-member UN Council.