(Eagle News) — Malacanang has put into question the objectivity and professionalism of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Dr. Agnes Callamard.
A Palace spokesperson pointed out that her visit to the Philippines in an unofficial capacity mainly to criticize the country’s drug war, was done while a Philippine delegation had been sent to the UN office in Geneva to report and explain the human rights situation in the Philippines.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Saturday (May 6) said the Philippine government is standing by its statement questioning Callamard’s professionalism and objectivity.
He said Callamard’s actions will be raised by the Philippine delegation to the UN High Commission for Human Rights, the office which Callamard is supposed to report to.
Abella immediately reacted to Callamard’s claim that she had informed the Philippines of her unofficial visit to the country.
He said Callamard had “conveniently failed to disclose” that the Philippine officials had requested her to be in Geneva in time for the periodic review of the Philippines’ human rights situation, which, he said, was the proper venue to thresh out and explain the human rights situation in the country.
“Ms. Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur, has issued a statement rejecting the Spokesperson’s claim that the Philippine Government had not been informed in advance of her trip here to take part in a conference, and that such was not an official visit,” he said.
“She (Callamard) conveniently failed to disclose that when the UNHCHR office in Geneva informed the Philippine Mission there, the Mission asked her to reconsider the trip since Philippine officials would be in Geneva at the same time for the Universal Periodic Review, and were expecting to see her, that being the appropriate venue to meet,” he explained.
Delayed reply
Abella said Callamard’s reply was delayed, and reflected that she was not giving “proper courtesy” to a sovereign nation.
“Her delayed reply came on the day she left for the Philippines. This was neither timely nor proper courtesy accorded to a sovereign nation. We stand by our statement,” he said.
Malacanang had earlier issued a statement questioning Callamard’s objectivity.
“We are aware that Dr. Callamard is currently in the Philippines and we are disappointed that, in not contacting our government in advance of this visit, she has sent a clear signal that she is not interested in getting an objective perspective on the issues that are the focus of her responsibility,” Abella’s earlier statement read.
“On September 26, 2016, we sent a letter to Dr. Callamard congratulating her on her appointment as UN Special Rapporteur and in that letter we issued an invitation for her to visit the Philippines to meet with members of our government and others to get our perspective on the drug menace confronting our country and the efforts of law enforcement and others to address that challenge within the means allowed by Philippine law.
“Our hope at that time was that Dr. Callamard would accept this invitation as part of a commitment to carry out her new responsibilities in a manner that was objective and fair to all perspectives on this important issue,” he said.
Abella insisted that when Callamard did not respond to the invitation, it showed “that she would not be approaching her review of allegations concerning our country objectively or comprehensively.”
“That assessment has been reinforced by the fact that Dr. Callamard has arrived in the Philippines in a manner that circumvents all recognized United Nations protocols for such visits and, more importantly at the very time our government has a senior-level delegation, traveling to Geneva to meet with officials of the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights as part of the 3rd cycle of the Universal Period Review of the Philippines and the issue of human rights,” Abella’s statement read.
“She should be in Geneva meeting with our representatives,” says Abella
“Our position is very clear, if Dr. Callamard is committed to ensuring due process to our government and a truly objective assessment
of our record on an issue of tremendous importance to our nation, she should be in Geneva meeting with our representatives,” he added.
Abella said that the Philippine government would have wanted Callamard “to see the situation on the ground first-hand and engage in an exchange of views with officials in our government to understand our position on the issue of human rights and the progress being made in the Philippines.”
“Her actions since then and the circumstances surrounding her current visit, have made it clear that Dr. Callamard is not approaching her assignment professionally or objectively,” the Palace spokesperson said.
“This is a matter we have asked our representatives at the United Nations to take up with their United Nations counterparts and it is something our delegation in Geneva will certainly be raising during their current visit,” he added.
Callamard attended a policy forum at the University of the Philippines which tackled the different perspectives on the illegal drug issue.
In the said forum, Callamard claimed that the “war on drugs does not work.” The forum ran from May 5 to May 6.