Remember Callamard?

REMEMBER Agnes Calllamard? She is the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) special rapporteur investigating the mythical extrajudicial killings and human rights violence that detained Senator Leila de Lima and out-of-sync former Sen. Antonio Trillanes who importuned President Rodrigo Duterte.

Well, what do you know? Amidst the unprecedented scale of violence and deaths in the pandemic-stricken United States of America, Callamard emerged from the blue to resume her manic diatribes against Duterte. This time she denounced the government for its strict enforcement of rules and regulations at the height of enhanced community quarantine. Callamard made a big issue out of the presence of military men but skirted the fact that they were called to help in the enforcement of law order and in most instances aid in the delivery of foodstuffs and cash assistance to families that had lost their livelihood on account of the pandemic.

Agnes Callamard is not only shooting from the hips but as usual, with blinders. Had she been true to her calling, she should have castigated and denounced first the magnitude of human rights abuses and violence that are taking place around her. The brutal killing of George Floyd in the hands of Minneapolis police authorities has enraged people all over America and by the looks of it the riots and violence have not yet seen the peak. The fault of Floyd: he used a counterfeit 20-dollar bill for a pack of cigarettes. There is no telling yet whether he himself was a victim since there have been no adverse reports yet that came out of the probe.

George Floyd, a black man, was accosted and handcuffed by police officers who tackled him on the pavement. He as well as some onlookers pleaded for his life but the officer persisted on pressing his knee on the neck of the victim which eventually killed him.

The brutal killing sparked protests all over the USA. As I write this piece people are out of the streets unmindful of their exposure to Covid-19  pandemic that claimed the lives of thousands of Americans. The National Guards had been called to come to the rescue of overwhelmed police authorities. For now, they are using rubber bullets against the crowds but had seriously inflicted wounds to demonstrators including a number of journalists covering the events.

Why UNCHR and Agnes Callamard renewed their tirade against Philippine President Duterte instead of denouncing the brutalities and violence that have reached Trump’s tower in Chicago and the doorsteps of the United Nations truly partakes of the incorrigible prejudice of the Human Rights Commission and Callamard. She has likewise forgotten that lawyer Jude Sabio has withdrawn the human rights violations he filed against Duterte before the International Criminal Court, while the perjured witnesses that Trillanes and de Lima “persuaded” to testify against the President had, long time ago, disappeared. That, including the people behind the “Bikoy” expose’ against Duterte and his family had likewise recanted their story and unmasked the characters that were behind the prevaricated black propaganda.