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Philippines wants 'fairness' in UN probe into drug war

February 28, 2018 | 3:35pm

Philippines wants 'fairness' in UN probe into drug war

A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agent secures part of a street holding residents temporarily during a drug raid in Maharlika Village, Taguig, south of Manila on Feb. 28, 2018. The drug raid was conducted to arrest five drug dealers, but only two were captured. President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs has left nearly 4,000 drug suspects dead and seen human rights groups claim he was responsible for a crime against humanity. The anti-drugs campaign enjoys popular support while the fiery-tongued Duterte has rejected any criticism of his human rights record.

Noel Celis / AFP

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is open to any United Nations special rapporteur that will investigate the human rights situation in the country as long as he or she will be objective.

Speaking before the UN Human Rights Council, DFA Secretary Alan Pater Cayetano reaffirmed the country's readiness to cooperate with the mechanisms of the council.

"All we ask for is fairness. There are 7.5 billion people in the world; send us anyone except one who has already prejudged us, and who, by any measure, cannot be considered independent, more so, objective," Cayetano said in his speech, referring to UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard.

READ: Do not 'weaponize' rights, Cayetano tells UN

Callamard was supposed to visit the Philippines last year to look into the extrajudicial killings and summary executions brought about by the Duterte administration's crackdown against the illegal drug trade.

President Rodrigo Duterte demanded a public debate, which Callamard rejected as it could breach established protocol of the UN Human Rights Council.

"The conditions imposed by the Government of the Philippines could contravene both the spirit and the letter of the code of conduct and are not in line with the working methods of Special Procedures," Callamard said.

"When a UN Special Rapporteur cries out, like the Queen in Alice in Wonderland, 'First the judgment, then the trial', when she culls evidence only for what might support her prejudgment, she loses the moral high ground and is stripped of any credibility," Cayetano told the Human Rights Council.

READ: Cayetano to UN rights body: Drug war meant to save lives

DFA Undersecretary Ernesto Abella, meanwhile, said that fairness in the investigation is a precondition, echoing Cayetano's sentiments before the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"It’s a presumption that there ought to be fairness and that we cannot tolerate anybody who comes with a prejudgment and certified bias," Abella said in a press briefing.

In May 2017, Callamard said that world leaders have agreed that the war on drugs is not an effective approach to countering the global narcotics problem.

The UN special rapporteur was in Manila last year to attend a policy forum at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

UN special rapporteurs are part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. The largest body of independent experts in the council, "special procedures" are independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms of the Human Rights Council.

Special rapporteurs work on a voluntary basis and are independent of any government or organization and serve their individual capacity.