By Patricia Lourdes Viray
MANILA, Philippines — United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard called on President Rodrigo Duterte to stop his war on drugs.
Callamard said that the Philippines is now standing out as one of the worst places outside of conflict situations due to the scale of summary executions and extrajudicial killings.
"Your president must listen to what we have to say, your president must stop the war on drugs," Callamard said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Philippines.
The UN special rapporteur was supposed to investigate the alleged extrajudicial killings of drug suspects since Duterte took office.
Duterte, however, demanded to have a public debate with Callamard, which the latter rejected. Callamard stressed that Duterte's demands violate the UN Human Rights Council's code of conduct.
"For me to be able to conduct my investigation into the, including public debate with the president, I have clearly explained on multiple occasions why those conditions are violating the code of conduct that was adopted by the member states of the United Nations and why those conditions are also going against the spirit and the principles of an investigation including the respect for the victims, the respect for due process and respect for the rule of law," Callamard said.
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