FOR nearly five decades, the United States has been calling out countries for human rights violations and similarly receiving flak for not watching its backyard first.
But starting in 2017, the U.S. is targeting not just states, but specific individuals in the global scene who they feel should be accountable for human rights abuses and corrupt practices.
It’s in their law — the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, signed in December 2016. The law authorizes the U.S. government to sanction foreign government officials who are human rights offenders, freeze their assets and ban them from entering the U.S.
For Americans, serious human rights abuses and corruption globally are considered national emergencies. These issues, according to Executive Order 13818 issued by then US President Donald Trump, are “threats to national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
Yesterday, the U.S. Treasury said it is imposing sanctions on former President Duterte’s spiritual adviser, Apollo Pastor Quiboloy.
A “serious” human rights abuser
“For a pattern of systemic and pervasive rape of girls as young as 11 years old, as well as other physical abuse,” Apollo was declared a “serious” human rights abuser.
Quiboloy, the founder of the Davao City-based church Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name (KOJC), is a friend and spiritual adviser of Duterte.
“In 2021, a federal grand jury in the US District Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana, California, indicted him for sex trafficking young women called “pastorals.”
According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, the pastorals were initially selected to work as his personal assistants. But they allegedly turned out to be sex slaves, and directed to have ‘night duty’ — the term used for sexual intercourse on demand with Quiboloy.
Why is the FBI involved? Quiboloy’s accomplices allegedly extended this practice of sexually molesting pastorals in the US and other countries.
The FBI put Quiboloy on their most wanted list.
The US has an extradition treaty with the Philippines. It is unknown until now if the US had already requested the Philippine government to extradite Quiboloy to the US and to appear during trials.
“Quiboloy is designated pursuant to EO 13818 for being a foreign person who is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse,” the US Treasury added.
According to the FBI, the KOJC operates in California, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Hawaii.
KOJC sourced most of its funds from donations of its members.
Quiboloy’s lawyer
Michael Jay Green, general counsel of KOJC in Hawaii, slammed the US Treasury Department for including Pastor Quiboloy in Magnitsky list even though the US court has yet to resolve Quiboloy’s case.
“This article has already convicted him (Quiboloy). What country am I living in?” Atty. Green said in an interview with SMNI News, owned by Quiboloy.
What’s not reported
US senators had earlier asked their State and Treasury departments to impose sanctions on former President Duterte and his other officials for alleged human rights violations, i.e., the so-called “war on drugs” and the imprisonment of opposition senator Leila de Lima.
Aside from Duterte, international human rights groups also demanded sanctions, among others, on senators Ronald “Bath” de la Rosa, Bong Go, former Cabinet members Delfin Lorenzana, and Harry Roque.
There are plans for President Marcos Jr. to visit the US next year. With the exclusion of Duterte, Bato, Go, and the others from the Magnitsky global list, there will not be any reason for them not to join the presidential party.
Photo credit SMNI Facebook Page
