POLITICS-US&PHIL.: MANILA – US: No conflict in rights report, Trump-Duterte ties
MANILA, Philippines — The latest annual US Country Report on Human Rights and President Donald Trump’s engagement with leaders who have been questioned for their human rights record, including President Duterte, are “complementary” and not two things in “conflict.”
“Does that mean that (Trump) should never speak to these people? We’re trying to keep the report as the factual baseline for what we’re going to do in policy terms or sanctions as the (Secretary of State) was mentioning. So we can learn a lot from this, and we can use it to formulate a policy,” said Ambassador Michael Kozak of the US State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
“But usually part of your policy is engaging with the people whose behavior you’re trying to change at some level. I don’t think those two things are in distinction,” added Kozak.
He said the report is an assessment of human rights situations in countries, including the Philippines and China, and the responsibility of the government for the abuses that occur. / Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star) – April 23, 2018 – 12:00 am /All photographs, news, editorials, opinions, information, data, others have been taken from the Internet ..aseanews.net | [email protected] / For comments, Email to : Aseanews.Net | [email protected] | Contributor:-
