Government pursues rights-based approach vs drugs, terrorism

MANILA, Philippines — A Human Rights Coordinating Council will be created to sustain current initiatives under the United Nations Joint Program on Human Rights (UNJP) that the country entered into with the UN to promote a human rights-based approach to drug control and counterterrorism.

The Philippine mission in Geneva said Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin represented the Philippines and presented the government’s three pledges aimed at strengthening human rights and accountability mechanisms and the rule of law in the country, during the pledging session of the UN Human Rights 75 High-Level Event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in Geneva, Switzerland last week.

Bersamin reaffirmed the Philippines’ commitment to the principles and ideals embodied in the UDHR.

He said the Philippines is committed to pursuing comprehensive justice sector reforms, including the establishment of a training institute for forensic science and investigation to scale up forensics capability and competence of law enforcement and justice authorities based on the Minnesota Protocol.

Bersamin said a Human Rights Coordinating Council will be created to sustain current initiatives under the six work streams of the UNJP on human rights, which will end in August 2024.

Launched in 2021, the UNJP is a three-year technical cooperation and capacity-building program which supports government and non-government institutions in critical areas, including safeguarding civic space and engaging with civil society and the Commission on Human Rights. It also strengthens reporting mechanisms for accountability and promotes human rights-based approaches to drug control.

The Philippines will adopt its fourth National Human Rights Action Plan encompassing emerging human rights issues, such as climate justice and the rights of older persons.

“The plan is a blueprint for embracing the most vulnerable in peaceful, prosperous and humane communities that uphold the highest expression of human dignity,” Bersamin stated.

The UDHR was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948 in Paris, France, in the aftermath of the Second World War. It enshrines the universality and indivisibility of human rights and has been the blueprint for human rights regime building over the past seven decades.

The two-day High-Level Event brought together dignitaries from various parts of the world to present tangible and transformative human rights commitments to reinvigorate the UDHR.