MALACAÑANG on Monday justified its decision to reject more than half of the recommendations made by United Nations member-states on the spate of extrajudicial killings in the country, insisting these formed part of the exercise of the country’s independent foreign policy.
In a Palace news briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the rejection only meant there were certain parameters that “need not be infringed upon” even if they rejected calls of France, Ghana, Hungary and Latvia and several others to allow UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard to conduct an investigation into the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the country.
“This is all part of our prerogative to exercise independent foreign policy,” Abella said, stressing Duterte was willing to host a contingent from the UN to open up an office in the country.
He also insisted there was no denial from the Philippine government that there were cases of extrajudicial killings in the country.
“There is no denial there. In fact, the UN has accepted what we’ve said. However, it’s just that we maintain that there are certain parameters that need not be infringed upon,” he said.
Ignoring issues raised, the Department of Foreign Affairs claimed the Philippines “scored a big victory” in Geneva when the UN body “overwhelmingly adopted Manila’s human rights report card.”
Evan Garcia, Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, however, said the country could not fully support 55 of the recommendations because these “were sweeping, vague and even contradictory, especially in the context of the Philippines’ democratic processes.”
With regard to the remaining 99 recommendations, Garcia added the Philippines could not fully commit to them as these were beyond the sole control of any of the branches of the government.
“This is specifically true for recommendations that pertain to legislative action, which would require consultative processes with stakeholders,” he said.
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the adoption of the Philippines’ Universal Periodic Review report demonstrated the country “has nothing to hide with its human rights record.”
The Philippines has decided to accept only 103 out of the 257 recommendations that the country received during the Third UPR in Geneva, citing “careful review and inclusive consultation with inputs from various stakeholders, especially from representatives from the State’s executive, legislative, and judicial departments.”
The UPR of the UN Human Rights Council is the world’s principal peer review mechanism where member-states come together to discuss their human rights policies and plans and exchange views on how to improve human rights through international cooperation.