Palace to study terms of UN probe

The Philippine government will study the conditions set by the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings for her inquiry into the deaths of drug suspects since President Duterte launched his war on drugs, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

An interagency body set up by the Presidential Human Rights Committee headed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea will discuss the government’s response to UNSpecial Rapporteur Agnes Callamard, said Assistant Communications Secretary Ana Marie Banaag.

The government had invited Callamard to look into mounting allegations of summary executions in the bloody campaign against illegal drugs, which had killed nearly 5,000 people since July.

Callamard said in a briefing note posted on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights that she plans to visit the country in 2017, and her fact-finding mission will be “in full accordance with the Terms of Reference for Fact-Finding Missions by Special Rapporteurs.”

The terms include free, confidential and unsupervised interviews with victims, their families, legal representatives, detainees, and civil society representatives, as well as unrestricted access to all regions and places of detention and facilities.

Aside from  free movement and free access to interviewees, the terms call for government security to persons who cooperated in the inquiry and an assurance that they would not be intimidated, threatened, harassed or punished.

“These are essential guarantees which ensure that the mission delivers on its outcomes, to the benefit of all those involved,” Callamard said.

Sen. Bam Aquino earlier said an interagency body has been created to discuss the conditions set by Callamard and by the Philippine government.

The President had required a public debate with Callamard over the allegations of extrajudicial killings, said Aquino.

Callamard said her visit would not be a criminal or judicial proceeding. It is meant to “examine the level of protection of the right to life in law and in practice” in the country, she said.