Callamard disqualification from UN probe sought

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine ambassador to United Nations (UN) Teodoro Locsin Jr. yesterday sought the disqualification of UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard from conducting any probe on the human rights situation in the Philippines.

Continuing his tirade against Callamard on his Twitter account, Locsin said the Philippines should demand the disqualification of the special rapporteur from participating in an official capacity in any probe that may be conducted by the UN or the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“If the Philippines does not demand her disqualification from any official role in a UN or ICC human rights probe, then the Philippines is really stupid,” said Locsin.

“She insisted she was not here on official business but to attend a seminar at which she delivered a scathing attack on the government.”

Locsin said Callamard disqualified herself from being an impartial rapporteur when “she came and stated her conclusions about the drug war before she started an investigation to find any facts to support those conclusions.”

“Don’t worry there are other more competent and responsible UN rapporteurs on human rights; many more where she came from. Not rocket science,” he said.

Callamard was in the country to attend a two-day conference on drug policy at the University of the Philippines.

However, contrary to the statement of Locsin, Callamard never mentioned the Philippine government or its war on drugs in her keynote speech.

Instead, she noted the consensus of world leaders that the so-called war against illegal drugs does not work.

“Badly thought out, ill-conceived drug policies not only fail to address substantively drug dependency, drug-related criminality, and the drug trade. They add more problems, as has been well documented, around the world, including by United Nations bodies and special rapporteur,” she said.

“Let me be clear. In countries where the perverse consequences of ill thought out drug policies were reported, in none of these countries did the drug problem disappear. In fact, the opposite happened,” said Callamard.

Lamenting criticisms over her presence at the forum, Callamard expressed disappointment and stressed that the event was aimed at conducting a dialogue on issues of illegal drugs.

“We are here in the spirit of dialogue. We are here in the spirit of opening avenues of communications and sharing information. I have been repeatedly told that you don’t have an alternative,” she said.