\n Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Southeast Asian leaders Saturday they were facing a \"massive\" illegal drug menace that could destroy their societies, as he called for a united response.\n<\/p>\n
\n Duterte, who has faced international condemnation for his own crackdown on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives, also insisted that outsiders should not interfere in Southeast Asia's affairs.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The illegal drug trade is massive but it is not impregnable,\" Duterte said in a speech to open an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"With political will and cooperation, it can be dismantled. It can be destroyed before it destroys our societies.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Duterte urged the leaders to be \"resolute in realising a drug-free ASEAN\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Duterte was elected last year largely on a law-and-order platform in which he promised to eradicate illegal drugs in the Philippines by killing tens of thousands of people.\n<\/p>\n
\n His pledge proved wildly popular with millions of Filipinos looking for a quick solution to crime and corruption.\n<\/p>\n
\n Since Duterte took office 10 months ago, police have reported killing 2,724 people as part of his anti-drug campaign.\n<\/p>\n
\n Many thousands of others have been killed by shadowy vigilantes, according to rights groups.\n<\/p>\n
\n A Filipino lawyer filed a complaint this week against Duterte at the International Criminal Court, accusing him of \"mass murder\" and alleging that as many as 8,000 people had died in the drug war.\n<\/p>\n
\n Duterte has relentlessly railed against criticism of his drug war, which Amnesty International and other rights groups have warned may amount to a crime against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said last year he would be \"happy to slaughter\" millions of addicts in his quest to stop the Philippines from becoming a narco-state, and repeatedly insisted human rights should not stand in the way of eradicating drugs.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Do not interfere' -\n<\/p>\n
\n In his speech to ASEAN leaders, Duterte highlighted the bloc's tradition of \"non-interference\".\n<\/p>\n
\n He did this while talking about relations with the United States and the European Union, which have expressed concern about alleged extrajudicial killings in his drug war.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Dialogue relations can be made more productive, constructive if the valued principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the ASEAN member-states is observed,\" Duterte said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Duterte had last year branded then US president Barack Obama a \"son of a whore\" for criticising the drug war, and more recently called European lawmakers \"crazies\" for issuing a statement condemning the killings.\n<\/p>\n
\n Observers said in the lead-up to the summit that ASEAN leaders were unlikely to criticise Duterte, with Human Rights Watch calling the bloc \"a club of cosy dictators or rights abusers\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Among the heads of undemocratic regimes in Manila were Thai military junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Cambodia's Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge cadre, and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some ASEAN leaders expressed support for Duterte and his drug war.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We also share your country's concerns on the devastating effects of drugs upon society and I understand your personal resolve in combating it,\" Bolkiah said as Duterte hosted him at the presidential palace on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whose government has executed drug traffickers, expressed his personal affection for Duterte because they had \"so much in common\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I believe that you and I are not fancy people. I believe that you and I are driven by healthy common sense and by love for our people,\" Widodo said on Friday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Many Filipinos also continue to support Duterte's drug war, believing that extreme measures must be taken to solve the drug menace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Southeast Asian leaders Saturday they were facing a \"massive\" illegal drug menace that could destroy their societies, as he called for a united response. Duterte, who has faced international condemnation for his own crackdown on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives, also insisted that outsiders should not interfere in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-33178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n