Duterte’s UN speech

“The purpose of the United Nations should be to protect the essential sovereignty of nations, large and small.”

—Nikita Khrushchev

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

WE are glad that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has agreed to deliver his speech in the United Nations (UN) despite lambasting the U.N. in the past.

In a world turned upside down, as emphasized by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres during his speech in a largely empty General Assembly Hall here in New York City, Duterte finally delivered his pre-recorded message played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly Sept. 22, 2020, at UN headquarters. 

The prerecorded video is the meeting's format this year because of the pandemic.

The U.N.'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday (September 22) with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet's biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year.

Mr. Guterres characterized the pandemic from the podium as “not only a wake-up call” but “a dress rehearsal” for challenges to come. 

“In an interconnected world, it is high time to recognize a simple truth: solidarity is self-interest.  If we fail to grasp that fact, everyone loses”, he said, delivering his annual report on the work of the Organization.   

 

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As the sometimes aggressive critic of the U.N. addressed its annual gathering of world leaders for the first time, Mr. Duterte defended his drug crackdown, dismissed criticism from human rights advocates and underscored his country's claims in the South China Sea.

The often brash-talking former mayor of Davao City struck a somewhat conciliatory tone about the organization he has often criticized and at times threatened to leave with the coronavirus taking a human and economic toll on the Filipinos.

“The Philippines values the role that the United Nations plays in its fight against the pandemic,” Duterte said.

Mr. Duterre welcomed the U.N.'s launch of a relief fund and called on the international community to make sure potential vaccines are accessible to all.

He also spotlighted Filipino health care workers' contribution to the virus fight at home and around the globe.

Known for his cuss words and badmouthing his critics, Mr. Duterte often lashes out at what he decries as international meddling in Philippine domestic affairs even as Western governments and human rights groups see it as expressing justifiable alarm about an anti-drug crusade that has left more than 5,700 mostly poor suspects dead.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in June that the Philippines' "campaign against illegal drugs is being carried out without due regard for the rule of law, due process and the human rights of people who may be using or selling drugs."

 

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Bachelet’s office called on the government to end all violence targeting suspected drug offenders.

He has denied authorizing extrajudicial killings but has repeatedly and openly threatened drug dealers with death. 

Duterte publicly ordered the country's top customs official to shoot and kill drug smugglers just this month.

The International Criminal Court opened a preliminary probe in February 2018 into complaints about the killings; Duterte's government responded by withdrawing from the court.

“The Philippines will continue to protect the human rights of its people, especially from the scourge of illegal drugs, criminality and terrorism,”

Duterte told the assembly, complaining that “interest groups have weaponized human rights” to discredit his government.

He expressed openness to “constructive engagement" with the U.N., but only if there is “objectivity, noninterference, nonselectivity and genuine dialogue.”

The president also pointed to the South China Sea, where Beijing's sweeping territorial claims have set off disputes with several neighboring countries and the United States.

“We firmly reject attempts to undermine” a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated most of China’s claims, Mr. Duterte said. 

China refused to participate in the arbitration by a U.N.-backed tribunal, dismissed the ruling as a “sham” and continues to defy it.

Mr. Duterte lamented on a larger scale that tensions among major powers are intensifying.

“When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled flat,” he said, imploring countries with interests in the South China Sea and other global flashpoints: “If we cannot be friends as yet, then in God’s name, let us not hate each other too much.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)