HRW calls for better int’l accountability mechanism

HRW also urged “foreign governments and donors to urgently re-assess their engagements with Manila.” (Photo by Human Rights Watch/Facebook)

As a reaction to the recent slaying of a Catholic priest and a journalist, international human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for a better international accountability mechanism.

Through a statement, HRW-Asia Division’s researcher Carlos Conde said that “these killings underscore the need for international accountability mechanisms – such as those within the UN (United Nations) system.”

Conde noted that this is “to intensify their response to the worsening human rights catastrophe in the Philippines.”

Labeling the recent killings of Rev. Father Richmond Nilo and journalist Dennis Denora as “a matter of grave concern,” HRW lined it alongside the deaths involved in the administration’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs, calling these as “grim reminders” how vulnerable the poor and those who speak against the government and fight for their rights.

Nilo, a Nueva Ecija priest was murdered on June 10, while Denora was killed on June 7.

HRW also urged “foreign governments and donors to urgently re-assess their engagements with Manila.”

This is to “ensure that any assistance they provide to the Philippine security forces and the judiciary emphasize accountability and due process.”

At the same time, HRW said in its statement that their foreign assistance should not “in any way fund or enable any elements of the military and the police implicated in human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings.”

Politicians both from the legislative and executive branch, rights groups, and concerned organizations and institutions have expressed their condemnation of the deaths of three Catholic priests Father Mark Ventura, Father Tito Paez, and recently, Nilo.