Mr. President, you could not totally disregard human rights
Mr. President, you could not totally disregard human rights
By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat perspective
As December 10 International Human Rights day draws near, let us remind the Duterte administration that human rights is not something which could be upheld or disregarded at the whims or caprices of the government, the war no drugs notwithstanding.
There are fundamental rights that could not be totally disregarded or in human rights parlance non-derogable. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, these are:
– Right to life (art 6);
– Prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (art 7);
– Prohibition of medical or scientific experimentation without consent (art 7);
– Prohibition of slavery, slave trade and servitude (art 8);
– Prohibition of imprisonment because of inability to fulfill contractual obligation (art 11);
– Principle of legality in criminal law i.e. the requirement that criminal liability and punishment is limited to clear and precise provisions in the law, that was in force at the time the act or omission took place, except in cases where a later law imposes a lighter penalty (art 15);
– Recognition everywhere as a person before the law (art 16);
– Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (art 18).
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