Global network mulls next steps in fight against human rights abuses in PH

Global network mulls next steps in fight against human rights abuses in PH

Patricia Lisson,
ICHRP-Canada chair

International Coalition for Human Rights in PH (ICHRP)

ICHRP Canada’s AGM to map out Canada’s role in protecting human rights in the Philippines

October 19, 2021

By Veronica Silva Cusi
The Philippine Reporter

The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), a global network campaigning against human rights violations in the Philippines, has begun discussions on next steps in light of continuing abuses in the Philippines.

Last Oct. 8, the group held a roundtable discussion following the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights last Oct. 7 on the occasion of the 48th session of the United Nations  Human Rights Council.

Michelle Bachelet Jeria,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

In that report, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria said she “remain(s) disturbed by reports of continuing and severe human rights violations and abuses across the country, including killings by members of the security forces and law enforcement in counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency operations – often in circumstances that indicate basic human rights standards have been ignored.”

She did note some institutional and policy changes that can help prevent human rights violations. These include limiting the judge’s powers to issue warrants of arrests not under their jurisdictions and the mandatory use of body-worn cameras by the police.

However, she also said that killings by alleged vigilantes without accountability are still happening.

She also reported that human rights defenders, including environmental defenders, journalists, union activists, church workers, and humanitarian workers, are still at high risk of harassment, threats, and killings.

ICHRP and like-minded human rights defenders on Oct. 8 took stock of what they have achieved to help Filipinos fight for their basic human rights as embodied in the UNCHR’s report and the outcomes of the International Criminal Court, which has authorized investigation into Duterte’s “war on drugs” which has claimed thousands of lives in extrajudicial killings.

Peter Murphy, ICHRP chair, said in the Zoom roundtable that “we have a lot more to achieve to help us advance a discussion about how we can go forward in solidarity with the Filipino people who are struggling to assert their basic human rights.”

And that’s what ICHRP-Canada is trying to do — discussing next steps at its annual general meeting ongoing in Vancouver, B.C. the weekend of Oct. 22 – 24.

ICHRP-Canada chair Patricia Lisson told The Philippine Reporter prior to the start of the annual meet that ICHRP will continue to bring Philippine human rights issues to Canada’s Parliament and work with partners, such as Mining Watch. In Vancouver, she said they will continue to build and strengthen their network as ICHRP-Canada is a new entity, having been established only in 2019.
How to continue advocacy work is also in the agenda.

With the same minority Liberal government that’s going to convene this late-fall, Lisson said ICHRP-Canada will work with members of Parliament regardless of political party affiliation. She has identified some champions of international human rights in the last Parliament.

She mentioned Bloc Québécois’ Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe of Lac-Saint-Jean, Que., who attended the meeting of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on May 4, where Philippine human rights violations were one of the topics.

In that same meeting, Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld of Ottawa West-Napean, Ont. also attended and later supported human rights defenders in the Philippines, including Nobel Peace Prize awardee Maria Ressa and Karapatan’s Cristina Palabay.

Brunelle-Duceppe and Vandenbeld were re-elected in the Sept. 20 federal election.

At the roundtable on Oct. 8, Lisson commented that one of the questions they have is how to bring before Canadian Parliament the recommendations highlighted in Investigate PH.

The third and final report of the independent investigations into the state of human rights in the Philippines noted the intensified human rights violence under the Duterte administration.

At the roundtable, there was a discussion on what other governments, particularly Parliaments, have been doing to support the Philippines.

For example, the European Parliament last year put forth a motion expressing concerns for the human rights situation in the Philippines, following the June 29, 2020 report of the UNCHR.

In 2019, Iceland’s Parliament tabled a resolution following the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines.

In a statement, Iceland Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gudlaugur Thór Þórdarson, said that as a new member of the UN council, having joined only in 2018, “Iceland pledged to address human rights concerns on their merits. We also pledged to take leadership and responsibility in initiating action when and where warranted. By tabling this resolution, we were following up on previous initiatives in the Council. It was necessary, in our opinion, because all reports indicate that the human rights situation in the Philippines continues to deteriorate.”

Lisson told TPR that if Canada’s doesn’t want to act unilaterally on the human rights situation in the Philippines, then maybe it can act with other governments.

“How do we bring people together to have conversations, to build some cohesive group of people who are willing to take a stand … [or] countries come together to take a stand,” said Lisson on possible next steps that ICHRP-Canada can do.