Cayetano Thanks International Community for Successful PH Bid for Human Rights Council Seat
13 October 2018 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano on Saturday reiterated his gratitude to members of the international community for giving the Philippines a fresh three-year mandate in the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“We are really greatly honored as this is a vindication that fake news and baseless accusations have no place in modern-day human rights discussions,” Secretary Cayetano said in a second statement issued hours after the Philippines was elected to a second term.
“We thank human rights advocates around the world but also condemn a few who are morally corrupt and who use human rights for political and financial gain,” he said.
“To those who supported us we thank you for your commitment. To those who did not support us, we will continue to prove ourselves” the Secretary said.
The Philippines got 165 out of 192 votes during elections at the UN General Assembly on Friday to become one of 17 Member States who would sit in the Council from 2018 to 2020.
The Secretary noted that despite the sustained and well-funded efforts of some human rights groups to block its bid, the Philippines was still able to garner 52 votes more than the 113 votes it got when it ran for election in 2015.
“The numbers speak volumes of the confidence of the international community on the human rights record of the Duterte Administration and its vision of keeping each and every Filipino safe and secure,” the Secretary said as he again scored what he said was the moral bankruptcy of some human rights groups that have been very critical of the Philippines.
The Secretary noted that some nongovernment organizations have politicized and weaponized human rights for their own financial gain, adding that these groups have been silent about rights abuses in primarily western countries that are known to provide them with funding.
“This is the hypocrisy that the Philippines has been standing up against,” the Secretary said. END