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LAST WEEK, the government released a statement alluding to a so-called “victory” after the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted its human rights report card. The Philippine delegation to Geneva, however, conveniently glosses over the fact that it did not accept any of the 44 recommendations related to extrajudicial killings, none of the 23 recommendations calling for the government to discontinue efforts to revive death penalty, and none of the 13 recommendations aimed at the protecting and creating an enabling environment for human rights defenders and journalists. These are key recommendations that need urgent attention, and yet are deliberately brushed off.
During the Philippines Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Adoption Session, the country’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva even concluded with dismissive statements directed at interventions pressing the government to address human rights issues, saying there is no impunity in the country, that investigations are ongoing for all cases of alleged extrajudicial killings, and that the interventions are an example of the so-called “vibrant democracy” in the country.
This is a farcical display of overbearance and outright misrepresentation of the situation. Interventions by civil society in the UPR were made because colleagues are being killed or are being harassed. Is this indicative of a vibrant democracy or of impunity?
An independent investigation by the UN human rights mechanisms on cases of extrajudicial killing and threats against human rights defenders and activists should be in order.
Government representatives have banked on its euphemistic and bloated report that fails to reflect, and even subverts, the human rights situation on the ground. However, rhetoric cannot compensate for the rising death toll, the swelling protests, the rage of the oppressed and repressed people who have been deprived of their basic human rights.
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