MANILA: The UN human rights investigator has told Agence France-Presse she hopes to visit the Philippines to probe alleged extrajudicial killings, but President Rodrigo Duterte’s government bluntly declared she was unwelcome. Rejecting UN allegations the crackdown amounted to a crime under international law, Duterte’s chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo on Friday challenged the UN special rapporteur on human rights to visit the Philippines and investigate. However, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified Saturday “UN mouthpieces” had wrongly assumed Panelo’s comments constituted an invitation to visit the Philippines and investigate the drug-related deaths. “The Philippines has not extended any invitation to anybody, nor the UN to look into its national affairs,” Abella said in a statement. Duterte has ordered police to shoot and kill suspects if they believed the latter’s actions threatened the lawmen’s lives.

Source: Manila Times August 20, 2016 11:15 UTC