Philippines government asks UN official to apologise

The Philippine government on Friday asked UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions to apologise for hurting the country's reputation through her "arbitrary" conclusions on the campaign on drugs launched by President Rodrigo Duterte.

"First, she must apologise for the arbitrary findings that she has made. She must withdraw them immediately and admit before the international community because it has unfairly damaged the reputation of the country," Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said in Singapore, where he is accompanying Duterte on an official visit.

Agnes Callamard had reported that extrajudicial executions have been carried out in the war against drugs that Duterte launched when he began his term on June 30 to fulfil his electoral promise of cleaning up the country of drug traffickers and addicts, reports Efe.

The UN official has also said that human rights have been violated in this state-sponsored campaign.

"People have jumped to conclusions that extrajudicial killings have been perpetrated in the Philippines, that there is state-sponsored violation of human rights," Yasay added.

This statement comes after Duterte had admitted on Monday that he personally killed drug addicts and traffickers during patrols with the police while he was mayor of Davao City.

On Tuesday, the Philippine leader condemned the extrajudicial killings and threatened to punish any police officer engaging in them.

According to police data, the campaign on drugs in the Philippines has caused nearly 5,900 deaths, 2,086 of them in police operations and the remaining 3,841 by vigilante civilian groups.

--IANS

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