Manila, Philippines - After two days of ceremonious meetings, Southeast Asian leaders missed the bullseye in talks about two major human rights issues affecting their region: Myanmar's handling of the Rohingya crisis and the Philippines' bloody campaign against illegal drug traffickers. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, this year's Chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), managed to fend off criticism of his "war on drugs", which has left thousands of people dead. "I think Duterte was very smart in using this event to legitimise himself and push back against criticism of his drug war," said Richard Heydarian, a geopolitical analyst from De La Salle University in Manila. "We saw no major country raising the drug war issue or if ever they raised it, it was very low-key."

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