The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights on Tuesday condemned attacks and threats made by President Rodrigo Duterte against one of its special rapporteurs.
In a statement, Rupert Colville, the Spokesperson for the UN OHCHR deplored the “repeated insults and threats of physical violence” against Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, by the President “and his legion of supporters.”
“We condemn this treatment of Ms. Callamard, and the disrespect it shows to the Human Rights Council that appointed her, in the strongest terms,” Colville said in a press briefing at Geneva on Tuesday.
“This campaign, coupled with the repeated personal attacks on Ms. Callamard by President Duterte, seems to be designed to intimidate her into not carrying out the mandate bestowed on her by the Human Rights Council,” he added.
The OHCHR defended Callamard from the constant tirades of Duterte and his supporters, saying that she “has clearly been acting fully in line with her mandate when commenting on the situation in the Philippines.”
Responding to the OHCHR statement condemning his attacks against Callamard, Duterte, speaking in Filipino, told the UN rapporteur: “Sabihin mo sa kanya, harapin niya ako dito, p***** i** talaga hiritan. Binabastos niya tayo.” John Paolo Bencito
Duterte reiterated that Callamard was lying when she allegedly brought in a “black doctor” who qualified that “the use of drugs is harmless,” referring to Columbia University neuroscientist Dr. Carl Hart, who spoke in the same event as the UN rapporteur last June.
Duterte said these ran counter to a UN report titled “International Narcotics Control Board Precursors and Chemicals Frequently Used in the Illicit Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs and Tropic Substances 2014.”
He also claimed the UN rapporteur was incapable of a fair probe since she supposedly contradicted UN’s own report.
The UN body also lamented Callamard being “subjected to a tirade of online abuse, including physical threats, during what appears to be a prolonged and well-orchestrated trolling operation across the internet and on social media.”
Duterte had earlier threatened to slap Callamard “if she investigates him for alleged extrajudicial killings,” the statement read.
The President made the same threat against her last June, after she criticized his bloody “war on drugs” campaign, which has left thousands dead.
Duterte said Callamard reportedly consulted a doctor who qualified that “the use of drugs is harmless,” which he said runs counter to a UN report titled “International Narcotics Control Board Precursors and Chemicals Frequently Used in the Illicit Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs and Tropic Substances 2014.”
The firebrand leader then said the UN rapporteur is “incapable” of a fair probe, since Callamard supposedly contradicts UN’s own report.