(Eagle News) – Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Thursday that United Nations human rights mechanisms were built around sovereignty, and will not work if rapporteurs themselves are “untrustworthy.”
Roque issued the statement in response to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte, after the Philippines’ chief executive instructed the police not to cooperate in any human rights investigation.
“Hindi ko po dini-dispute na may obligasyon ang gobyerno ng Pilipinas sa batas sa pantao. Pero ang sinasabi lang namin eh hindi naman po binabalewala ang soberenya pati po diyan sa UN Human Rights Council. Kinakailangan po pumayag ang mga bansa kung nais mag-imbestiga ng mga rapporteur,” Roque said.
Roque added that these human rights mechanisms “will not work if rapporteurs become untrustworthy as far as sovereign states are concerned.”
He cited for instance the reaction of the Philippines to last year’s visit of UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard, who had wanted to probe the government’s war on drugs.
“Ang hindi po mapatawad natin is si Callamard (na) pumasok ng Pilipinas uninvited and made her conclusions na para bagang nag-imbestiga na siya,” he said.
“So this is what happens when the UN Human rights council does something that would cause member-states of the UN to lose trust in some of its rapporteurs,” he added.
Separate branch of gov’t
As for the UN human rights chief’s allegations Duterte was responsible for “deepening repression and increasing threats” against people who have voiced out criticisms against his policies, like Senator Leila de Lima, Roque said the judiciary was a separate branch of government in which even the chief executive cannot intervene.
“So, your excellency, I do not know what kind of a system that you have in Jordan, but in our system, we respect the independence of the judiciary…We will allow the judiciary to proceed and decide on the case of (De Lima),” he said.
Zeid made the allegations against President Duterte in a recent speech before the UN Human Rights Council.
In the speech, Zeid added that as signatory to many international treaties and as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, the Philippines “has a duty to uphold human rights and to engage with persons appointed.”