Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Invitation to Duterte draws flak
Rights group criticizes Trump step; Filipino vicious, senator says
MANILA, Philippines — A U.S.-based human-rights group says President Donald Trump should not roll out the White House red carpet for Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, whom it accused of being a “mastermind” of mass murder because of his anti-drug crackdown in which thousands have died.
Human Rights Watch and other critics reacted with alarm Monday at Trump’s invitation to Duterte to visit the White House. In a telephone call, Trump also affirmed America’s alliance and friendship with the Philippines and its president, who has maintained an antagonistic stance toward U.S. security policies.
The U.S. and other countries close to the Philippines “have an obligation to urge accountability for the victims of Duterte’s abusive drug war, rather than offer to roll out the red carpet for official state visits with its mastermind,” said Phelim Kine, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Asia.
Kine said Trump may damage human rights by making overly friendly overtures to Duterte, who is facing accusations of mass murder before the International Criminal Court.
Trump will cut a “bad deal” for the American and Filipino people if he fetes Duterte with a White House reception without assessing the implications “of hosting and toasting a foreign leader whose links to possible crimes against humanity for instigating and inciting extrajudicial killings [have] already prompted warnings from the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court,” Kine said in an email.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Monday that Trump’s invitation to Duterte “weakens American values.”
“President Duterte has overseen the illegal killing of thousands of his own people in the Philippines,” Coons wrote. “By welcoming Duterte to meet with him in the White House, Trump risks giving Duterte’s actions — and his brutal human-rights violations — an American stamp of approval.”
Duterte has said his administration does not back extrajudicial killings, although he has repeatedly threatened drug suspects with death and violence in nationally televised speeches. Duterte’s spokesman, Ernie Abella, did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday.
Duterte said he has not accepted the invitation to the U.S. because of scheduled trips to Russia, Israel and other countries.
“I’m tied up,” he told reporters Monday in southern Davao city. “I cannot make any definite promise.”
U.S. and Philippine officials said Trump’s calls and invitations to several Asian allies including Duterte were aimed at discussing the crisis over North Korea’s nuclear threats.
Abella said in a statement that “the discussion that transpired between the presidents was warm, with President Trump expressing his understanding and appreciation of the challenges facing the Philippine president, especially on the matter of dangerous drugs.”
Duterte first gained global prominence as well as criticism for his aggressive and violent war on drugs as mayor of Davao city.
“He’s been very, very tough on that drug problem, but he has a massive drug problem,” Trump said in an interview Monday.
A White House statement described the call as “very friendly” and said the U.S.-Philippine alliance “is now heading in a very positive direction.”
Duterte, who once referred to President Barack Obama as a “son of a whore,” suggested Monday that his differences with the United States had had much to do with Obama. “It was not a distancing, but it was rather a rift between me, maybe, and the State Department and Obama, who spoke openly against me,” Duterte said.
He added: “Things have changed. There’s a new leadership.”
Trump on Monday emphasized public support for Duterte despite the condemnations over the drug conflict.
“You know he’s very popular in the Philippines,” Trump said. “He has a very high approval rating in the Philippines.”