China joins PH in rejecting Iceland’s resolution urging UN action on killings

MANILA, Philippines — The governments of the Philippines and China voted negative on the resolution which called on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to look into the human rights situation in the Philippines.

In his statement read by Philippine Permanent Representative for United Nations (UN) Evan Garcia, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said the resolution was “not universally adopted’” making its validity “highly questionable.”

“It does not represent the will of the Council, much less that of the developing countries who are always the target of such resolutions. 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,” Locsin said.

Locsin also called the resolution a “travesty” rather than a “triumph of human rights.”

Likewise, China voted “negative” on the resolution.

The Chinese government had earlier expressed support for the Philippine government’s campaign against drugs following the latter’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) which said it would probe the alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

“We have said before that since he took office, President Rodrigo Duterte has firmly cracked down on drug-related crimes and improved public security, which creates the sound environment for the Philippines’ economic development and its people’s peaceful life and wins full approval and wide support at home,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in 2018.

“The international community should give more understanding and support to those efforts instead of pointing fingers and casting blames,” he added.

READ: China backs PH pull out from ICC, urges nations to support ‘war on drugs’

Other nations that also rejected the resolution include Angola, Bahrain, Cameroon, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Hungary, India, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia.