Malacañang is disappointed by the unannounced visit of United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard to the Philippines.
Callamard is in the country to speak in a forum on illegal drugs organized by the Free Legal Assistance Group Anti-Death Penalty Task Force.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that by not informing the government of her visit, Callamard has expressed that she is not interested in getting an objective view on the issues in the Philippines.
“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 said.
Callamard issued a veiled rebuke of President Duterte’s deadly campaign against illegal drugs in the forum, saying world leaders have recognized that such an approach does not work.
Callamard told the forum that badly thought out policies not only fail to address drug abuse and trafficking, they also compound the problems and “can foster a regime of impunity infecting the whole justice sector and reaching into whole societies, invigorating the rule of violence rather than law.” (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos and AP)