The Philippine government should improve its human rights situation amidst “no improvement” in its justice system.
Human rights organizations called on United Nations (UN) and the international community during the 51st session of the United Nation Human Rights Council to take a stronger stance on the situation in the Philippines, which they claimed is the same as it was under the Duterte administration.
In 2020, the UN Human Rights Council settled for a resolution on "technical assistance and capacity-building for the promotion of human rights" in collaboration with the Philippine government to improve its HR situation here as it stopped the independent investigation into the situation that rights groups were asking for at that time.
The justice and foreign affairs departments are the co-chairs of the Steering Committee of the United Nations Joint Program (UNJP), which implements the United Nation Resolution.
The Philippines' permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Antonio Manuel Lagdameo, promised last week before the Commission on Appointments to fairly represent the country on the issue of human rights and other common values in the international community.
However, he continued by emphasizing the " misrepresentation and exaggeration of the so-called abuses from the Philippines' side" in human rights.
Human rights status
HRW deputy director for UN Lucy McKernan said that their own probe showed that human rights in the Philippines have “not improved” despite the resolution that the UN passed in 2020 to promote human rights, the GMA News reported.
“International scrutiny of the human rights situation in the Philippines remains essential in our view. The Human Rights Council should not be fooled by the Philippines government and their propaganda that the human rights situation has improved since the joint program,” McKernan said at a Zoom conference
“It would be an injustice to the Filipinos if the UN now abandoned its efforts. So, the Council needs to send a strong message that the new presidency does not have a clean slate to commit new abuses,” she added.
Secretary-general of rights group Karapatan Cristina Palabay said she has the same question after years of interaction with the technical working group, which hosted several capacity-building activities with both civil society and governmental bodies.
"We raised the issue of the intent of the government to really engage in the process, to genuinely look at the baselines. And our baselines in this case are the various reports on human rights violations," Palabay said.
"We look at how minimal the joint program has addressed these numerous issues. I cannot really say that there has been substantial contribution in the improvement of the human rights situation in the Philippines. There is a problem, and if we don't identify the problems, then how else can we get anywhere?"
The Duterte administration's war on drugs has left families of victims suffering, and the international advocacy officer of iDEFEND Rose Trajano called for follow-up resolutions that include more rapid steps for justice and compensation.
"I think we will have a real problem if no follow-up resolution will be done by the UN Human Rights Council," she said. "A follow-up resolution should also ensure that the government would commit to concrete, time-bound justice and accountability targets."
Trajano added that iDEFEND would continue pushing for an international investigation into the human rights situation in the Philippines.
Coordinator for human rights research at Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS) Cathy Lopez said that the human rights situation under Marcos Jr. "remains dire."
"Rights violations continue to proliferate in the country's poorest communities," Lopez said.
Lack of commissioners in the CHR
The five Commission on Human Rights (CHR) commissioner vacancies have yet to be filled by President Marcos Jr.
Former CHR commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit said that this most recent period without commissioner appointments has been the longest the CHR has gone without appointees.
She also noted that a CHR should strive to maintain its fiscal independence regardless of its appointment situation.
"At the council level, I have no doubt that most of the like-minded states will ask the current government to ensure that there are appointments forthcoming, credible ones, transparent processes in appointments of the CHR, and to ensure that the budget is there for the CHR to independently operate," Dumpit said.
"It has been shown that our justice system is very sick in the country...We need to do something more positive; we have to make sure that there’s alternatives to ensure that crime is prevented," she added.
Tags: #UnitedNations, #UNJP, #CHR, #humandevelopment