MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte is the one to be blamed for the Philippines being included in the United Nations’ (UN) list of countries with “shameful” records in terms of human rights protection, according to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).
CHR chairman Jose Luis Gascon said the Duterte administration’s unwillingness to cooperate in independent investigations has not helped in improving the country’s human rights record.
“The different statements by the President and other administration officials over the last two years both against human rights itself and against [human rights defenders] in particular have created a chilling effect for those who have spoken in defense of human rights in the context of the ongoing war on drugs,” Gascon added.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated in their annual report that Philippines is among 38 countries that carried out reprisals or intimidation against human rights defenders through killings, torture and arbitrary arrests.
Guterres added that Duterte’s “defamatory and intimidating public statements” directed at members of the CHR prompted giving the agency a measly budget of P1,000 last year.
“Attacks on human rights defenders has been a global trend, with the Philippines contributing to this shift by shrinking space over-all for [civil society organizations] to operate in promoting and protecting human rights,” Gascon said.
“I am sure the UNHRC considered developments in the context of what the Duterte administration is actually doing or not doing with respect to these human rights obligations particularly from the lens of the set of recommendations it adopted with regard the Philippines during its 3rd cycle of the UPR,” he added./PN
