Agnés Callamard returns to Manila for Rappler’s Social Good Summit

The prominent French human rights expert, who former president Rodrigo Duterte once threatened to slap, is coming back to the Philippines for the first time since the lifting of a Duterte-era travel ban Agnés Callamard, previously banned from the Philippines by former president Duterte, returns to address the impact of unregulated artificial intelligence on human rights at Rappler's Social Good Summit 2026. Callamard, now secretary general of Amnesty International, emphasizes the urgent need for humanity to regulate AI development to protect human values and freedoms. The summit, taking place on November 21, will feature various speakers discussing the threats posed by AI, alongside Callamard's insights from her extensive human rights work. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. MANILA, Philippines – Agnés Callamard, barred from setting foot in the Philippines by former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2018, returns to the Philippines for the first time to address an urgent global issue: how can we protect human rights and democracies from the threats posed by unregulated artificial intelligence (AI)? Callamard, in her capacity as United Nations special rapporteur for extrajudicial killings during the Duterte presidency, had been outspoken about the conduct of his drug war, angering Duterte enough to ban her from the country. In September this year, the Bureau of Immigration lifted the ban, paving the way for Callamard to return to the Philippines to speak at Rappler’s Social Good Summit 2026 happening on November 21. Callamard, now secretary general of international human rights watchdog organization Amnesty International, will speak about the impact of artificial intelligence on human rights and basic freedoms at the summit. Entitled, “WE THE HUMANS: Reclaim Our Future,” this year’s summit focuses on what humanity can still do to protect human values, human creativity, and human communities from the threats posed by unregulated and abused AI systems. In recent months, rogue AI agents and words of warning coming even from the leaders of major AI companies and tech tycoons, point to an urgent need for humanity to come together to rein in AI development and protect human communities. Without the proper guard rails, AI models pose an existential threat to humanity, supercharging wars and disinformation, compounding isolation, undermining critical thinking and learning abilities, and more. The Social Good Summit is Rappler’s biggest annual fundraising event, with proceeds going to its investigative journalism and AI literacy initiatives. The summit will happen on November 21 at Shangri-La The Fort, Manila. Other speakers include AI Singapore’s Leslie Teo (also a member of the UN scientific panel on AI), historian Yuval Noah Harari (virtual), Rappler CEO and 2021 Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, and more. (READ: Learn, connect, be human: Social Good Summit unveils AI masterclasses) From Duterte’s ‘drug war’ to AI threats Callamard is uniquely placed to speak about the global outlook of human rights, in the face of rapid AI development. She has led human rights investigations in over 30 countries, including the investigations into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. She has studied and written about women’s rights, freedom of expression, refugee movements, arbitrary killings, and more. At Columbia University, she was director of the Global Freedom of Expression Project. She also served as executive director of the Freedom of Expression organization ARTICLE 19 and HAP International (the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership). As secretary general of Amnesty International, she serves as its principal spokesperson. Amnesty International, one of the world’s largest non-governmental human rights organizations, has around 10 million supporters and offices in over 70 countries. While she was UN rapporteur for extrajudicial killings, then-president Rodrigo Duterte threatened to slap her for “insulting” him with her words about his controversial anti-illegal drugs campaign. The Philippines’ own Commission on Human Rights said the president’s expletives and threats had a chilling effect on human rights defenders. Today, Duterte is detained by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands to stand trial for alleged crimes against humanity. His full-blown trial is set to begin on November 30. His anti-illegal drugs campaign resulted in at least 6,200 deaths in police operations alone by May 2022. Human rights organizations estimate that the number of fatalities could be as high as 30,000 to include those killed vigilante-style. – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading