'Send them to us'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has offered to take in the world's refugees at a time many Western countries are closing their borders for those displaced.

An estimated 1.8m people became refugees in 2015 as the world witnessed a 300 percent increase in the number of people forcibly displaced crisis from 2005 to 2015.

Duterte told Al Jazeera his decision to welcome refugees into the Philippines, a country of 100 million where poverty is widespread, is due to Western countries' failure to help them.

"I say send them to us. We will accept them. We will accept them all. They are human beings," he told Al Jazeera's 101 East in a rare, behind-the-scenes look at his presidency.

Without elaborating how the country will deal with the arrival of refugees, he added: "They can always come here. I will welcome them until we are filled to the brim."

Duterte said the Western nations "seem to be very accommodating on human rights but suddenly change course and say no".

He also threatened to follow in Russia's footsteps and pull his country out of the International Criminal Court, incensed at foreign criticism of his deadly drug war.

Russia formally withdrew its signature to the ICC's founding Rome Statute on Wednesday, calling the tribunal's work "one-sided and inefficient".

Speaking in his home town of Davao city in the southern Philippines shortly before flying to Peru for a regional summit, Duterte said: "They (Russians) may have thought the International Criminal Court is (useless), so they withdrew their membership."

"I might follow. Why? Because these shameless bullies only picked on small countries like us."

Duterte also repeated an earlier threat to pull the Philippines out of the UN, saying the world body had failed to stop wars that had killed "thousands" of women and children.

Duterte has drawn international condemnation for his crackdown on drugs, with the European Union and US accusing him of violating human rights by using death squads to kill suspected drug dealers and users.

More than 3,680 people have been killed by police and unidentified attackers in the Philippines since June 30, when Duterte took office.

But he is unapologetic for his tough stance.