Trudeau wins a seat at the table for leaders’ luncheon
But will PM raise human rights with Duterte?
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sanctioned a bloody drug war that features extrajudicial killing. He called Barack Obama a “son of a whore.” Last week, he boasted that he murdered a man with his own hands.
But that doesn't mean world leaders have been calling the Philippine strongman to account over human rights abuses.
Human rights came up only briefly when Donald Trump had a 40-minute meeting with the Philippines' leader, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday.
Although even that appeared to conflict with the Philippines' version of the meeting. Harry Roque, a spokesman for Duterte, said “there was no mention of human rights. There was no mention of extralegal killings. There was only a rather lengthy discussion of the Philippine war on drugs with President Duterte doing most of the explaining.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hinted he might bring up the issue of human rights with Duterte, if he gets the opportunity. It remains to be seen if Trudeau will challenge Duterte face to face over his violent drug war. The leaders have no one-on-one meetings planned while the prime minister is visiting the Philippines for summits related to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
However, thanks to Duterte's effort, Trudeau will have a coveted opportunity Tuesday to participate in a working lunch in Manila ahead of an ASEAN-affiliated meeting known as the East Asia Summit. Trudeau will join leaders from 18 countries, including China, Russia and the United States, to discuss security issues.
Trudeau's ticket to Tuesday's luncheon is a breakthrough because no other Canadian prime minister has ever been invited. He's expected to discuss North Korea and the violent attacks on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Eventually, Canada hopes to become a permanent member of the East Asia Summit.
Trudeau will also be the first Canadian leader to participate in a onehour exchange at the ASEAN summit, during which members will ask him questions and debate the depth of Canada's co-operation in the region.
The opportunity arrives at a time when Trudeau is making efforts to raise Canada's international profile and demonstrate it can wrestle with complicated challenges, at home and abroad. Without the invitation from Duterte, who is the summit's chair, Trudeau wouldn't have made it through the door.
Carlo Dade of the Canada West Foundation, a Calgary think-tank, said joining the group would mean a long-term commitment.
“It also has the Canadian PM sitting around a table where he or she will be called upon by Canadian human rights groups to yell and point fingers with a group that doesn't want to discuss human rights issues and certainly doesn't want to be lectured by Canada,” Dade said in an email.
“This makes a mockery of (the Liberal government's) whole ‘progressive' agenda,” he added.
Dade said he thinks Canada should join the group, “but only if doing so does not do more harm than good.”