{"id":269617,"date":"2020-09-23T05:20:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T09:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=269617"},"modified":"2020-09-23T05:20:06","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T09:20:06","slug":"ph-still-wont-allow-un-rapporteurs-to-probe-killings-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/23\/ph-still-wont-allow-un-rapporteurs-to-probe-killings-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"PH still won\u2019t allow UN rapporteurs to probe killings: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Roque said prohibiting the rapporteurs from conducting a probe is a sovereign prerogative recognized by the UN system. (PCOO file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Amid mounting concerns over supposed human rights violations under the Duterte administration, Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday said they will not allow United Nations (UN) special rapporteurs to investigate on deaths linked to the crackdown on illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the UN system, the state\u2019s consent is required and believe me \u2018no, there\u2019s no need to allow into the country so-called experts with very fixed biases against the Philippines already,\u201d Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview over CNN Philippines\u2019 The Source.<\/p>\n

Roque said prohibiting the rapporteurs from conducting a probe is a sovereign prerogative recognized by the UN system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that the UN can do if we do not allow rapporteurs into our country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Roque also assured that domestic processes are in place to ensure that the drug war is within the rule of law, adding that there are enough remedies for victims of human rights violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn case anyone feels that they have been aggrieved, they can resort to these procedures \u2018no. Aside from the courts, we have an abundance of administrative remedies where the perpetrators are state agents such as the police. You can go to (People’s Law Enforcement Board), you can go to the National Police Commission, you can go to the Ombudsman for the military and the police \u2018no, you can go to the Civil Service Commission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the \u201ctrue test\u201d of whether a state complies with its obligations under human rights law is if the government able to give the victims adequate domestic remedies.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, there may be violations\u2014isolated violations of human rights but what is important is under human rights law, we have to give victims adequate domestic remedy which we have in the form of the Department of Justice National Prosecution Service, the local courts and Commission on Human Rights; and we have even recently created an inter-agency committee to look into alleged cases of illegal killings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque pointed out that there is no legal principle under international law that prohibits states from acting on the scourge of illegal drugs and terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a valid sovereign act; it is in fact an act which forms part of the international program of the international community even in the UN system. We have UN Anti-Drugs Office based in Vienna, Austria which shows that it is in fact an obligation of the state to protect its people from the scourge of illegal drugs and the President therefore will continue with even more passion in the last two years this war on drugs criticisms notwithstanding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a speech before the UN General Assembly, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed readiness to engage in dialogue and constructive engagement with the United Nations on matters concerning human rights.<\/p>\n

Duterte, however, said this dialogue should be done \u201cin full respect of the principles of objectivity, non-interference, non-selectivity, and genuine dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In June 2019, UN special rapporteurs issued a joint statement asking the UN to conduct an independent investigation into alleged human rights violations in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Duterte, in March the same year, ordered the withdrawal of the Philippines from its membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Amid mounting concerns over supposed human rights violations under the Duterte administration, Malaca\u00f1ang on Wednesday said they will not …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":269140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269617","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269623,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269617\/revisions\/269623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}