Duterte mocks Iceland, says its problem ‘is too much ice’

Iceland has nothing but ice, and, therefore, fails to understand the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte claimed after the Nordic nation urged a UN human rights body to probe his drug policies.

Iceland filed a draft resolution to the UN Human Rights Council, calling on them to launch an investigation into the controversial ‘war on drugs’ waged in the Philippines under Rodrigo Duterte. Human rights campaigners and some Western politicians accuse the police of extrajudicial killings of dealers and drug users.

Duterte denies that the instances of such killings are state-sponsored and insists that the harsh measures are necessary to curb powerful drug cartels.

The resolution was passed on Thursday, prompting an angry reaction by Duterte the next day. Known for not mincing his words, the Philippines leader lashed out at Iceland, poking fun at its Nordic climate.

“What is the problem of Iceland? It’s just ice. That’s your problem, you have too much ice, and there is no clear day or night there,” he said during a meeting with corrections officials.

So you can understand why there is no crime, no policeman either, and they just go about eating ice.

A remote island nation of just 358,000 people, Iceland enjoys a very low violent crime rate and is often named among the safest places in the world. This is why its politicians are out of touch with the realities of the Philippines, Duterte added.

“They don’t understand the social, economic, political problems of the Philippines,” he said.

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