PH among countries practicing ‘shameful’ retaliation vs rights defenders — UN report

Flag of the Republic of the Philippines (Shutterstock photo)

The United Nations (UN) listed down 38 countries which it said, did the ‘shameful’ practice of “harsh reprisals and intimidation” against human rights defenders and activists; among these is the Philippines.

The annual report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres which was released on Wednesday, September 12, revealed that human rights defenders and activists in those states are suffering from the “alarming and shameful level of harsh reprisals and intimidation” by their own governments.

In placing the Philippines on its list, the UN cited the “defamatory and intimidating public statements” thrown at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and its chairperson, Chito Gascon because of “its human rights monitoring work and cooperation with the United Nations.”

“The Commission has received threats of being defunded or abolished and has been vilified in the media as a hindrance to the implementation of government policies,” the report read.

“When commissioners travel for work purposes they are reportedly monitored, which has affected their engagement with the United Nations,” it added.

The report also mentioned the imprisonment of opposition Senator Leila De Lima, who was arrested in February 2017 over drug charges filed against her,

“Ms. De Lima has been subject to intimidation, threats, and judicial harassment in connection with her criticism of government policies surrounding the war on drugs, such as the extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals and drug users and President Duterte’s proposal to reinstate the death penalty, including when she was Chair of the Commission,” it said.

Moreover, the UN also cited the government’s move to tag Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as a terrorist organization under the Republic Act (RA) 9372 or the Human Security Act of 2007.

In the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) petition, the UN said over 600 individuals were labelled as “de facto terrorists.” Eighty of them, it noted, are human rights defenders, indigenous peoples’ representatives, and representatives of community-based organizations.

“This is the first time the Human Security Act of 2007 has been used against numerous activists,” the UN said.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour, in a letter to the Philippine government in May 2018, expressed concern that putting these 600 individuals on a terrorist list may “constitute a reprisal for their engagement with the United Nations human rights system.”

The Human Right Watch (HRW) earlier slammed the petition of the Justice Department and called it a “virtual government hit list.”

Last August, the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 declared UN special rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Rafael Baylosis, and Jose Melencio Molintas as ‘non-parties’ to the government’s bid to tag them as terrorists.

The UN human rights experts had welcomed the court’s ruling.