The United Nations’ top human rights official is putting President Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in the same box for how each leader has failed to rebuke the use of torture against state enemies.
“The president of the Philippines has spoken openly about extra-judicial killings. And the president of the United States of America has said that torture could be necessary in certain circumstances. There is no longer any pretense. They are breaking long-held taboos,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said before an audience late Monday, according to multiple reports.
While campaigning, Trump said he supported the use of waterboarding for intelligence-gathering purposes, but would let Defense Secretary Jim Mattis have the ultimate say on the issue.
Still, Zeid said he is concerned with Trump’s “persistent flirtation” about using torture, especially if the U.S. was attacked and felt provoked to use it.
“Mindful of how the American public has, over the last 10 years, become far more accepting of torture, the balance could be tipped in favor of its practice,” Zeid said, according to one report.
Duterte is at fault for having directed police to kill about 9,000 drug users and dealers since he took office, according to Zeid.
The top U.N. rights official also blasted May for comments she made to The Sun following terrorist attacks in Manchester and London this spring.
“If human rights laws get in the way of doing these things, we will change those laws to make sure we can do them,” May had said.
“Whatever the intention behind her remarks, they were highly regrettable, a gift from a major Western leader to every authoritarian figure around the world who shamelessly violates human rights under the pretext of fighting terrorism,” Zeid said.
Zeid warned that if other leaders follow the example of these three people, the U.N. Convention against Torture will be undermined and the “practice of torture is likely to broaden, and that would be fatal.”
