May 18, 2012
Philippine Leadership on Human
Rights Needed
Calling on the Philippines to increase its leadership on human
rights issues within the Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and in other international
organizations, representatives of 40 human rights organizations
in the Philippines gathered last 18 May 2012 at the University
of the Philippines Law Center. They discussed the current
state of human rights in the country, together with the issues
and the opportunities attached to it.
The Commission on Human Rights, United
Nations Development Fund and
Amnesty International, to name a few, took part in this forum.
The participants called on the Philippine government to take
a more active stand on human rights issues internationally, and
to back it up with progress on the human rights front domestically.
For example, they felt that a National Human Rights Strategy Policy
was overdue. And within ASEAN, the
Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) needs
to become more forceful, and the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration
that is currently being crafted should become an effective and
unambiguous document – both issues require active involvement
of the Philippine government.
Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) Secretary
General, Rosemarie Trajano |
Philippine Alliance
of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) Secretary General,
Rosemarie
Trajano presented the highlights of the Joint Civil Society
Report for the 2nd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review wherein
the Philippines, among other States Parties, will be the focus by
the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on 29 May in Geneva,
Switzerland. A network of 63 civil society organizations were involved
in the drafting of the Philippines’ Human Rights report stating
the actions the state has done “to improve the human rights
situations in the country and to fulfill its human rights obligations.”
According to Ms. Trajano the emerging and pressing issues indicated
in the UPR report that need immediate actions by the government
are: meeting basic needs of the poor and other vulnerable groups,
elimination of gender-based discrimination, addressing legislative
gaps on children’s rights and trafficking in human beings.
Professor Ricardo Sunga of the UP-IHR |
Another priority issue in the Joint Civil Society Report is
the campaign against torture in the country. Professor
Ricardo
Sunga of the UP-IHR presented the research output on
the Confidential Inquiry Procedure of the UN Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The political nature of this human rights violation makes it
highly concealed and intractable. Being so, Prof. Sunga said that
the convention aims to “provide definition of torture and
absolutely prohibits it; creates safeguards against it; and equips
it with a range of reporting and other procedures to supervise
monitoring of convention.”
Deputy Director of Font Line Defenders, Mr. Andrew Anderson |
The highlight of the forum was a talk on the Protection of Human
Rights Defenders by the Deputy Director of
Font Line Defenders,
Mr. Andrew Anderson.
He emphasized the primacy of protecting the human rights defenders
as the “key to making change to human rights situation of
anybody else.” He also affirmed the Philippines leadership
role internationally when he said that the Filipinos “promoted
defended the universality and indivisibility of human rights that
time when it was under attack.” However, Mr. Anderson articulated
the need for the Philippines to sustain this leadership role by
forging solidarity with its ASEAN neighbors and by creating mechanisms
to defend human rights defenders.
Director of UP IHR, Prof. Beth Pangalangan,
welcomed the participants. Providing reactions to the three speakers
were Prof. Raul Pangalangan, former Dean of UP College of Law;
Dr. Nymia Simbulan, Executive Director of PhilRights and Prof.
Milabel Cristobal of the De La Salle University College of Law.
Concluding and synthesizing the forum was Executive Director of
the AHRC, Atty. Arpee Santiago.
The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) Philippine
Office, in collaboration with the
Institute of Human Rights of the University of the Philippines
Law Center (UP-IHR),
Medical Action
Group (MAG),
Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), the
Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC) and
Philippine
Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) organized this
platform to discuss three important issues: the
Joint
Civil Society Report for the Universal Periodic Review; the
Convention Against Torture and Its Confidential Inquiry
Procedure; and the
Protection of Human Rights
Defenders domestically and internationally.
FNF Philippines country director Jules Maaten
commented: “It is important that the human rights NGOs articulate
where they believe more should be done to protect human rights,
both within the Philippines and beyond. We need interaction between
these NGOs on the one hand, and the administration and politicians
on the other, to iron out these issues. After all, the Philippines
has a proud tradition to maintain in defending universal human
rights.”
