By Dhel Nazario
Amid the adoption of the Iceland resolution that will scrutinize the human rights situation in the country, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the government rejects the resolution and will not abide by it.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. (FACEBOOK / MANILA BULLETIN)
"It cannot, in good conscience, abide by it. We will not accept a politically partisan and one-sided resolution, so detached from the truth on the ground. It comes straight from the mouth of the Queen in Alice in Wonderland, “First the judgment, then the proof," Locsin said in a statement on Thursday.
The Secretary said that what happened is repugnant of the toil the country pursued as one of the founding members of the Human Rights Council in 2006.
"In the process leading to the adoption of this resolution, we have witnessed the very opposite of these values that hold the UN together. We have seen its mandate “weaponized” for the sake of interests with the evident means to get it done," he said.
He also questioned the resolution which according to him, was "not universally adopted" making its validity "highly questionable."
READ MORE: DFA Sec. Locsin: Iceland Resolution ‘highly questionable’
"Western countries pushed for this resolution in the confidence that the world has forgotten what they did and what should have been done to them had there been a Human Rights Council. It was pushed with the arrogance that developing countries must not stand up to them even if we can and as we hereby do. There will be consequences," he said.
On Thursday, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted to adopt the Iceland resolution which will look into the human rights situation in the Philippines, including the drug-related killings.
READ MORE: UNHCR adopts Iceland’s resolution by a slim margin of votes
From the UNRHC, which is composed of 47 nations, 18 voted in favor of the draft resolution, 14 voted opposing with 15 abstentions. The resolution formally requests UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet "to prepare a comprehensive written report" on the human rights situation in the country.
The resolution, which was submitted last July 4, "urges the government of the Philippines to take all necessary measures to prevent extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances" and as well as "to carry out impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable in accordance with international norms and standards including those on due process and the rule of law."
Locsin also mentioned that what happened as a result was not a triumph of human rights but "a travesty of them that should honor the character of the author and co-sponsors of the resolution."