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The Philippines
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Philippine minister refuses to grant UN access to investigate war on drugs, saying it is prejudiced

  • Philippine foreign secretary Teodoro Locsin says the UN Human Rights Council has already prejudged the country
  • The three-year crackdown on drugs has seen at least 6,700 deaths

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Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr. Photo: AP
Reuters
The Philippines will not allow visits by the United Nations to investigate its bloody war on drugs, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, calling UN human rights experts “bastards” who had already demonstrated prejudice.
The UN Human Rights Council approved a resolution in July to compile a comprehensive report on President Rodrigo Duterte’s three-year crackdown, during which at least 6,700 people have been killed in what police say were shoot-outs with dealers who resisted arrest.
Thousands of mostly urban poor drug users have also been killed, many in mysterious circumstances. Human rights groups accuse police of systematic cover-ups and summary executions of anyone associated with drugs, which police reject.

Asked in a television interview if UN investigators would be allowed to work in the Philippines, Foreign secretary Teodoro Locsin said: “No. Because they have already prejudged.”

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“I already said those bastards – especially that woman acting like the queen in Alice in Wonderland – first, the judgment, then the trial. No.”

Locsin was referring to Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. She has been a staunch critic of Duterte, who has threatened to slap her and has warned of an even bloodier campaign ahead.

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“No – I don’t want them coming here and then saying that everything they have been saying, but have not proved, is true ‘because we saw it’. How? Are they going to exhume every body?” Locsin said.

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