Several Philippine law groups have opposed the candidature of Harry Roque, spokesperson of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, at the International Law Commission (ILC).
The ILC is a 34-member group of legal experts elected every five years to draft international law. The members of the Commission sit “in their individual capacity and not as representatives of their Governments”. This year’s vote will take place on November 12.
Roque will have to put forth his case to the members of the UN and the Philippine government has also submitted a document listing Roque’s qualifications.
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He has said the position he was seeking was “not a full-time job” and came with no salary. “There are only meetings that will be held … a few weeks each year.”
He has earlier mocked the United Nations, but travelled to New York earlier this week to lobby for a spot in the UN’s International Law Commission.
Roque, 54, a former law professor and congressman, was Duterte’s spokesman from 2017 to 2018 and returned to that role in 2020.
In 2019 he defended Duterte against charges of extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses during the president’s war on drugs.
He called the UN’s international human rights council a “toothless tiger” and in June described the International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate Duterte for crimes against humanity “legally erroneous” and “politically motivated”.
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His candidacy drew strong opposition with two law organizations writing to the UN warning that the presidential spokesman has undermined the supremacy of human rights and international law.
The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), a nationwide network of human rights lawyers, sent a letter of objection to all 193 member states of the UN stating that “ Roque does not possess the qualifications for a seat at the commission.”
“While he has degrees in law and taught public international law, he is a political partisan who has actively demonstrated contempt for the rule of law and … has undermined the supremacy of human rights and international law,” it said.
Also the executive committee of the University of the Philippines (UP), where Roque taught law, said in a statement that “his inclusion in the (UN) committee would not serve its purposes but instead diminish the reputation of the body”.
Roque’s high school in a statement agreed with the university’s position. (TDT)
