Roque to endorse another UN special rapporteur

FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque (PCOO Photo)

As a concurrent presidential adviser on human rights, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque disclosed on Tuesday that he would recommend another United Nations (UN) special rapporteur who can look into the government’s anti-drug campaign.

Roque, who is also the presidential adviser on human rights, made this remark in a press briefing in response to Iceland’s call to the Philippines to authorize investigation on the alleged extrajudicial killings.

“I’m about to make a recommendation as a Presidential Adviser on Human Rights, there’s at least one rapporteur that I will recommend be allowed to conduct an investigation, but I can’t divulge for now which rapporteur this is,” Roque said.

During the 37th regular session of the Human Rights Council, Iceland Foreign Minister Gudkaugur thor Thordarson called on the Philippines to allow a UN rapporteur who will look into the controversial war on drugs “without preconditions.”

Responding to this call, Malacañang said it was open to an investigation by the UN, but stood firm to its decision that it should not be done by special rapporteur Agnes Callamard.

“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,” the spokesperson said.

The Palace official also noted that under the special rapporteur system, “no one that can compel a state party to allow an investigation if it does not want to do so,” the Palace official said, adding that all investigations must be consented to by state parties.

“If they’re going to send a special rapporteur, it should be someone credible, an authority in the field they seek to investigate in, and must be objective and unbiased,” he stressed.

Roque noted that it was Callamard’s shortcoming that the home state does not want her in. He said that one of the qualifications of a special rapporteur is to be “trustworthy enough” to be able to start an investigation.

“The fact that there is no way that Agnes Callamard can be allowed to investigate in the Philippines proves that she has failed in this regard,” he said.

Callamard has been subjected to a tirade of online abuse, even involving physical threats. President Rodrigo Duterte earlier threatened to slap the UN rapporteur if she would pursue an investigation against him in relation to his administration’s war on drugs.

Last December 2016, the Chief Executive invited the UN rapporteur to the Philippines for a probe but imposed some conditions: a public debate between the two; Duterte should be able to ask his own questions; and Callamard should be questioned under oath. Callamard, however, refused to accept these conditions as it would break UN protocol.