Kerry to PH: Human rights must be protected as we keep society safe

United States Secretary of State John Kerry. NOY MORCOSO/INQUIRER.net

United States Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday mentioned the need to protect human rights as the Philippines and its partners combat local and international crimes.

“We have a much broader agenda than, my friends, just the question of the South China Sea,” Kerry said during a joint conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay.

“We continue to work together with the Philippines and other countries in the region on law enforcement and on regional security and on combatting translational crimes like human trafficking.”

“I made very clear that civil and human rights need to be protected even as we work to keep our society safe,” he said.

Kerry said this as human rights groups slam extrajudicial killings related to the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.

More than 300 suspected drug users and pushers have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte took his oath of office. More than 200 were killed during police operations while the rest were assassinated by unidentified hitmen and vigilante groups.

READ: Human rights core of Charter–Leni

Kerry, who did not mention the administration’s strong campaign against illegal drugs, then added that the Philippines and the US continue to work together in “countering violent extremism.”

“This nation has been managing these threats by groups like Abu Sayyaf for some period in Time. Our nations work very closely together in order to counter those threats,” he said, before discussing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca). CDG

READ: Duterte ‘contradictory’ on human rights — foreign group