Special rapporteurs say Philippines president-elect’s declaration that
‘son of a bitch’ reporters are not exempt from assassination is
‘unbecoming of any leader’
A United Nations
envoy has described Rodrigo Duterte as “irresponsible” and
“unbecoming”, weeks before the president-elect of the Philippines is due
to take office.
Cristof Heyns, a UN special rapporteur, was responding to Duterte’s comments
in a press conference that “corrupt” journalists were the legitimate
targets of assassination. “Most of those killed, to be frank, have done
something. You won’t be killed if you don’t do anything wrong,” Duterte
was reported as saying.
Heyns, special rapporteur on summary executions, said: “A message of
this nature amounts to incitement to violence and killing, in a nation
already ranked as the second-deadliest country for journalists.
“These comments are irresponsible in the extreme, and unbecoming of
any leader, let alone someone who is to assume the position of the
leader of a country that calls itself democratic.”
In 2015, seven journalists were killed in the Philippines. The Committee to Protect Journalists lists the south-east Asian nation as fourth on its Impunity Index, a ranking of countries where people who murder journalists go free.
“Just because you’re a journalist you are not exempted from
assassination if you’re a son of a bitch,” Duterte said at the press
conference in May. He referred to one journalist, Jun Pala, who was
murdered in Davao in 2003 when Duterte was mayor.
“The example here is Pala. I do not want to diminish his memory but he was a rotten son of a bitch. He deserved it.”
A second UN expert, David Kaye, the special rapporteur on freedom of
opinion and expression, said: “Justifying the killing of journalists on
the basis of how they conduct their professional activities can be
understood as a permissive signal to potential killers that the murder
of journalists is acceptable in certain circumstances and would not be
punished.
“This position is even more disturbing when one considers that the Philippines
is still struggling to ensure accountability to notorious cases of
violence against journalists, such as the Maguindanao massacre,” he
added, referring to one of the world’s deadliest attacks on the press
when 32 journalists were killed during a local election in 2009. More
than 100 people are on trial over the atrocity.
Kaye said Duterte’s comments “indicate to any person who is
displeased by the work of a journalist or an activist, for example, that
they can attack or kill them without fear of sanction”.
After winning a landslide in the presidential election on 9 May,
having run a profanity-filled campaign built on promises to kill
criminals, Duterte has detailed his plan for office, including giving
police special forces shoot-to-kill orders.
He also said he would use low-ranking soldiers to kill corrupt senior police officers.
“I will call the private from the army and say: ‘Shoot him,’” said
Duterte, who will take office on 30 June for a six-year term.
The 71-year-old was also reported in the Philippine Inquirer
last week as launching an unprovoked tirade against the UN when
answering a question that the paper said was not linked to the world
body.
“Fuck you, UN, you can’t even solve the Middle East carnage …
couldn’t even lift a finger in Africa … shut up all of you,” he said.
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