Image capture of video by Al Jazeera via You Tube channel - Rights experts of the UN expressed concern over President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s recent statements
- “Intentional lethal use of force may only be in order to protect life and not for common policing objectives”
- The experts warned that Duterte’s statements can be made by “potential killers” to justify journalist slayings
Human rights experts from the United Nations (UN) have expressed concern over recent statements made by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, while urging him to stop instigating deadly violence.
Two UN Special Rapporteurs condemned Duterte’s previous pronouncements which imply that journalists are not exempt from assassinations.
“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,” UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions Cristof Heyns said in a statement released by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights.
The experts also warned that such statements could be used by “potential killers” to justify the murders of journalists in the country.
“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… Such provocative messages 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,” explained UN Special Rapporteur on freedom opinion and expression David Kaye.
The experts also pointed out that international agreements have set standards and limits as to the conduct of law enforcement; noting that lethal use of force can only be used when it is unavoidable to protect life and not just in common practice.
“Talk of ‘dead or alive’ has no role to play in any state that claims to uphold human rights in law enforcement. Intentional lethal use of force may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life and not for common policing objectives. The President-elect fools no one when he says he is not calling on people to be killed,” Heyns said.
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