Roque: UN to send new team in PH drug war probe sans Callamard

The United Nations (UN) will send the names of the new team of special rapporteurs that will conduct the investigation on the administration’s vicious campaign against illegal drugs, Malacañang said on Thursday.

“Well, I withheld my recommendation when I found out that there was already communication between the UN Sec Gen himself and our Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Let’s await the list of possible names to be given by the UN Secretary General,” Presidential Harry Roque said in a press briefing.

Roque said in February that he would recommend another UN rapporteur to conduct the investigation on the Duterte administration’s fight against illegal drugs, noting the partiality of UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard against the government’s so-called war on drugs.

READ: Palace open to UN probe on drug war but not conducted by Callamard

“Ang hindi po mapatawad natin eh si Callamard, pumasok ng Pilipinas uninvited and made her conclusions na para bagang nag-imbestigasyon na siya,” Roque said.

(What we cannot forgive is that Callamard entered the Philippines uninvited and made her conclusions as if she already conducted her investigation.)

“Siguro po matatagalan bago mahilom iyong mga sugat na nagresulta doon sa ginawa ni Callamard,” he added.

(Maybe it will take time to heal the wounds caused by Callamard.)

Roque was referring to Callamard’s unannounced visit in April 2017, when she attended a human rights forum at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

The Palace official’s statement came a day after UN Human Rights Council Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein criticized President Rodrigo Duterte for ordering the Philippine National Police (PNP) to ignore the possible UN investigation on the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign.

“I deplore the President Duterte’s statement last week to elite police units that they should not cooperate ‘when it comes to human rights, or whoever rapporteur it is’ and the continued vilification of this Council’s Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings by the authorities,” Hussein said.

“The Government has a duty to uphold human rights and to engage with persons appointed by this Council,” he added.

READ: Ignore UN rapporteurs, police told

The UN rights chief also criticized the “deepening repression and increasing threats” against the opposition, citing the continuing detention of Senator Leila de Lima as well as the filing of impeachment complaints and dismissal petitions against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and official of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Roque, however, disputed Al Hassad’s claims, emphasizing that while the Philippine government has obligations under the international human rights law, the Council should not disregard a member-state’s sovereignty.

“My reply to His Excellency, the Prince of Jordan, is it’s a two-way street – the entire human rights mechanism of the UN is built around sovereignty, and it will not work if rapporteurs become untrustworthy as far as sovereign states are concerned,” he noted.   /kga