section_path: Public image/Controversial remarks and human rights concerns
section_name: Controversial remarks and human rights concerns
paragraph_text: Controversial remarks and human rights concerns
  
  Duterte's record on human rights and his long history of comments that have widely been considered to be offensive, provocative, threatening, and undiplomatic have received sharp international criticism. He has been portrayed by his critics in the media as having a "dirty mouth". He had, however, promised to behave in a "prim and proper" manner on the national and international stage once he was to be inaugurated as president, to the point that, "almost, I would become holy."
  
  Throughout his presidency, Duterte has made controversial comments about rape, human rights, his views on media killings, and has used slurs; he has also made controversial statements to international leaders and institutions. He has also repeatedly criticized the Catholic Church which has expressed alarm over deaths linked to the war on drugs.
  
  Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the first year of Duterte in office a "human rights calamity". HRW estimates that there has been 7,000 deaths from the day Duterte first took office to January 2017. The Duterte administration suspended the drug war in February 2017 in an effort to cleanse the police ranks of supposed corruption, also halting the disclosure of figures on deaths related to drug arrests and raids. In March 2017, HRW released a special investigation and report on the state of police related shooting, titled "License To Kill". The New York Times had also released a video documentary "When A President Says I'll Kill You", which depicts Duterte's war on drugs through a local photographer's eyes. On August 17, 2017, HRW called Duterte a threat to the human rights community after he made threats against human rights activists.