Palace nixes call for Callamard to probe killings

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Wednesday, February 28, 2018
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MANILA – Malacañang dismissed the call to allow a United Nations official to investigate the alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

“Definitely not Agnes (Callamard),” Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said, referring to UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Agnes Callamard.

Roque was reacting to Iceland foreign minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson’s plea during the 37th regular session of the Human Rights Council to allow Callamard visit the Philippines.

“Of course, the statement of the Iceland foreign minister is an expression of his home state. But it’s an expression that we don’t have to heed,” he told Palace reporters in a news briefing on Tuesday.

Nobody can compel a state to allow an investigation “if it does not want to do so,” Roque said.

“To those not familiar with the special rapporteur system, all investigations must be consented to by state parties,” he explained.

If any UN special rapporteur must be sent to the Philippines, they must be “credible,” said Roque.

They must be “an authority in the field that they seek to investigate in, and must be objective and unbiased,” he said.

Callamard is “not trustworthy enough,” the spokesman of President Rodrigo Duterte stressed.

“It’s her fault that the home state does not want her in,” said Roque. “The fact that there is no way Agnes Callamard can be allowed to investigate in the Philippines proves that she has failed in this regard.”

Callamard has been critical of the Duterte administration’s deadly crackdown on illegal drugs.

Roque – a concurrent presidential adviser on human rights – said he would recommend “one rapporteur” to conduct the investigation “but I can’t divulge [who] for now.” (PNA)
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