(We yield this space to the statement of Amnesty International due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
AMNESTY International is gravely concerned over the recent crackdown by the Philippine government on the exercise by non-nationals of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Most recently, on Aug. 14, 2018, Professor Gill Boehringer, an Australian lawyer, academic and human rights activist who had visited the country on numerous occasions over the past decade, was expelled by the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration (BI) that cited his alleged participation in “domestic protest actions in the past.”
Amnesty International urges the Philippine authorities to end its harassment of peaceful activists who enter the country and to respect the rights to freedom of expression and assembly of all peaceful activists, including non-nationals. The denial of entry to human rights activists for such reasons obstructs their right to defend human rights and can amount to a denial of their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly, as guaranteed by international human rights law. Such expulsions also create a negative effect on the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly by non-nationals who may now decide to reduce their activities in the country for fear of the action the Philippine authorities might take against them.
More broadly, under international law, States are obliged to treat all persons as equal before the law and without discrimination on any ground, including political or other opinion. Apart from a few political rights which under the Covenant apply specifically to citizens, the UN Human Rights Committee has underlined that “the general rule is that each one of the rights of the Covenant must be guaranteed without discrimination between citizens and aliens.” Based on this, the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly should be equally enjoyed by anyone in the Philippines, whether or not they are a citizen of the country.
Amnesty International calls on the Philippine authorities to immediately halt the harassment of Philippine activists and the expulsions of non-nationals on the basis of their engagement in domestic protests and other similar activities, and ensure respect for the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly of all activists and human rights defenders in the Philippines.
The organization urges the Department of Justice, and its agency the Bureau of Immigration, to ensure that people are not expelled from the country for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression or their right to peaceful assembly. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is legally binding on the Philippines as a State party, states that non-citizens lawfully in the territory may be expelled only in accordance with the law; unless compelling reasons of national security require otherwise. Non-citizens faced with an expulsion order must be able to put forward reasons against their expulsion and to have their case reviewed by the competent authority in a process where they have legal representation.
