Philippine President on UN: If They Come Here, Throw Them to the Crocodiles
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had some harsh words for the United Nations in response to their condemnation of the bloodbath that has resulted from a crackdown on drug dealers in the Philippines.
“According to official statistics, about 4,000 Filipinos have been killed by the police in a nationwide crackdown on drugs dealers and users since Mr Duterte came to power in mid-2016,” the Telegraph reported.
“Thousands more have been executed on the streets by masked assassins.”
In a speech to soldiers in Zamboanga, Duterte said that he would feed UN officials to crocodiles if they came to the Philippines to investigate him.
“If these fools come here, are there crocodiles here? The ones that eat people? Throw those sons of b****** to them,” he said, according to the Philippine Star.
Duterte also ordered police to ignore inspectors who wanted to investigate his war against drugs, Yahoo reported.
“You know, they say they are investigating us. My God, you fools! If you are investigating us, the rule in criminal law is, any statement or answer that you give may incriminate you,” he said.
A few days before Duterte’s crocodile remarks, the United Nations spoke out against the president’s “disgraceful” behavior up to that point.
“Really it makes one believe that the president of the Philippines needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric evaluation,” said UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussei.
“This sort of comment really is unacceptable.”
The comment to which Hussei is referring is one Duterte made last week. He called the UN Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Agnes Callamard, “malnourished,” the Telegraph reported.
The UN human rights chief says Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has launched profanity-laced diatribes against United Nations rapporteurs, needs "psychiatric evaluation" pic.twitter.com/Idb3SetY3D
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 9, 2018
Duterte’s crocodile remark isn’t the first time he has made threatening statements toward the United Nations.
In 2016, the UN condemned the handling of suspected drug dealers in his country.
“You go and file a complaint in the United Nations, I will burn down the United Nations if you want,” Duterte said at a Philippine army base. “I will burn it down if I go to America.”
According to the Philippine Star, Duterte has stressed that his war on narcotics will continue until he steps down from office.
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