{"id":259489,"date":"2020-06-26T06:31:51","date_gmt":"2020-06-26T10:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=259489"},"modified":"2020-06-26T06:31:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-26T10:31:51","slug":"palace-hits-un-experts-bias-vs-duterte-govt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/26\/palace-hits-un-experts-bias-vs-duterte-govt\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace hits UN experts\u2019 \u2018bias\u2019 vs. Duterte gov\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

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FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. during a press conference at the Presidential Guest House in Panacan, Davao City on January 4, 2018. JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Friday slammed the United Nations\u2019 (UN) human rights experts for insisting that there are various human rights violations committed in the Philippines under the watch of President Rodrigo Duterte.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque jabbed at the 31 UN rights experts\u2019 \u201cbias\u201d against the Duterte government when they once again urged the Office of the UN Human Rights Council to conduct a probe into the supposed human rights violations in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

In a virtual press conference, Roque said the UN experts have no right to interfere in the country\u2019s domestic affairs because it has a \u201cworking\u201d justice system.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi po kinakailangang manghimasok ang mga dayuhan dahil mayroon po kaming mga batas dito sa Pilipinas<\/em>\u00a0(Foreign entities need not intervene because we have laws in the Philippines),” he said.<\/p>\n

Some 31 experts from the UN stressed the need for the rights council to carry out an \u201con-the-ground independent, impartial\u201d investigation into the human rights situation in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Human rights experts of the UN made the call as they claimed \u201cwidespread and systematic killings and arbitrary detention in the context of the war on drugs, killings and abuses targeting farmers and indigenous peoples, (and) the silencing of independent critics and the opposition\u201d in the Philippines under Duterte\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

They also took note of the \u201cstaggering cost of the relentless and systematic assault on the most basic rights of Filipinos at the hands of the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe human rights situation in the Philippines has now reached a level of gravity by requiring a robust intervention by the UN. The Human Rights Council must do everything in its power to prevent the continuation of widespread and systematic rights abuses against the Philippines\u2019 people,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n

The UN experts also urged the Duterte government to \u201cdemonstrate real and credible progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the UN experts who made the call were special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard (extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions), Diego Garcia-Sayan (independence of judges and lawyers), and David Kaye (promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression).<\/p>\n

Respect PH legal system<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a press statement, Roque said the UN experts\u2019 conclusions confirm their \u201clack of impartiality that has unfortunately tainted the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations when it comes to the Duterte administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe maintain that the Philippines has continuously discharged its obligations to punish violations of human rights. We have legislation and mechanisms against torture and enforced disappearances, laws to enforce international humanitarian law, and penal laws that have been crafted to protect and promote human rights as enshrined in our Constitution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque also reiterated that the country has a \u201cworking and independent\u201d judiciary that deals with human rights violators, \u201cregardless of who they may be.”<\/p>\n

He said the UN rights experts should instead respect the Philippines\u2019 legal system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we said in our response to the Office of the High Commissioner’s report, issued in early June, our courts stand ready to receive and rule on any complaints. We call on the special rapporteurs to respect our legal system and the Philippines as a sovereign state,\u201d Roque said.\u00a0(<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Friday slammed the United Nations\u2019 (UN) human rights experts for insisting that there are various human …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":252612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259491,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259489\/revisions\/259491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}