Duterte admin urged to cooperate with UN, rights groups after adopted resolution on technical aid
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights called on the government to cooperate fully not only with the United Nations but also with civil society organizations to improve the human rights situation on the ground.
This, after the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution that offers the Philippines technical assistance and capacity building for the promotion and protection of human rights in the country.
The resolution—although it failed to launch an independent, on-the-ground investigation—asked the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to provide support for the country in its “continued fulfilment of its international human rights obligations and commitments.”
“It’s not really saying the Human Rights Council has actually changed its mind on the situation in the Philippines. It just takes a step forward to ensure the government is given a chance to address the issues raised in the report [of the High Commissioner],” Karen Gomez-Dumpit, CHR commissioner, said.
“We expect full cooperation from the government and we offer full cooperation from the Commission on Human Rights as well,”
The technical assistance and capacity will focus on domestic investigative and accountability measures, data gathering on alleged police violations, engagement with civil society, national mechanism for reporting and follow-up, counter-terrorism legislation and human rights-based approaches to drug control.
Broader engagement
The CHR official said that while there is recent cooperation between the Philippine government and the United Nations, it has not actually developed into an “actual” cooperation.
One way of broadening the engagement with the UN system is extending standing invitation to UN special procedures or human rights experts who report and advise on human rights issues, Gomez-Dumpit said.
A “marked improvement” in the engagement with domestic accountability mechanisms such as the CHR and civil society partners is also needed.
But Gomez-Dumpit stressed that no amount of technical assistance and capacity building can improve the situation on the ground “if there is no change in policy.”
“From here on… we have a resolution that we can work on so we can translate to indicators so we can actually monitor the progress of not only technical cooperation but also efforts on the ground,” she said.
Palace vows cooperation
Malacañang welcomed the resolution as it vowed to cooperate with the UN human rights system.
“The adopted resolution was right and we are thankful. It shows that the UN Human Rights Council trusts the institutions tasked to address human rights abuses,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Thursday.
“We will fully cooperate with the UN human rights system,” he added.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in June that her team working on the comprehensive report on the country’s human rights situation was not granted access to the Philippines. But she said the government cooperated with the review through written submissions and several meetings outside the country.
Human rights group Karapatan challenged the government to allow the access of UN human rights mechanisms in the country to assess domestic accountability mechanisms “if they are truly working and if they have nothing to hide.”
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