(Eagle News) — The Palace on Thursday, Dec. 20, slammed the call of United Nations special rapporteur Michael Forst for the Philippines to “end immediately all forms of violations against human rights defenders..,” calling it “irresponsible” and “reckless.”
In the first place, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that if Forst had checked his facts first, he would have seen the “so-called human rights defenders never had it so good under the Duterte administration.”
“They continue to fully exercise all their rights to air issues and concerns related to their advocacies in an environment that is free and secure from any threat or harassment,” he said.
Panelo also noted that the Philippines is a member of the UN and a member of the UN Human Rights Council, after being voted by 165 states to a fifth term.
He said this “bolsters our position that respect for human rights and its advocates is being upheld by this administration.”
“Fed up”
According to Panelo, Forster’s call “not only demeans the integrity of the UNSR system but the entire UN mechanism itself.”
“We are fed up with this practice of using the UN as a platform to parrot baseless criticisms of local interest groups who are supported by resentful politicians belonging to the opposition,” he said, noting that “for too long,” the UN has “been used by these detractors as a tool for vilification.”
He said special rapporteurs “should be less gullible as this reinforces the President’s contempt for them who have consistently manifested bias against the Philippines.”
As for the “local groups” Panelo said have been “feeding” Forst with “false information,” he said they should “submit their alleged cases of violations against their members to proper authorities such as the Inter-Agency Committee under Administrative Order 35 (s.2012), which is charged with handling cases of extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and other grave violations of the right to life and liberty” instead.
“Unless they can properly do so, we stand by our firm admonition of these groups to refrain from making a fool of these UNSRs, a mockery of the UN, as well as using their allegations as leverage to secure financial resources from over-trusting funding institutions,” he said.
In his latest report, Forst had said the Philippines has “taken steps to frustrate the enjoyment” of rights of “human rights defenders.”
“The government’s war on drugs has created a climate of insecurity and impunity for extrajudicial killings that affect human rights defenders,” it added.
