April 5, 2004

CHR LEADS RESEARCH ON THE SITUATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN THE PHILIPPINES

In the continuous advocacy of the Commission on Human Rights for the protection and promotion of human rights in the Philippines, they have acceded to a call to support an International-based project primarily aimed for the welfare of the Indigenous Peoples Community around the world.

Called the METAGORA Project or Measuring Democracy, Human Rights & Governance under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/PARIS 21) based in Paris, the Philippine activity will focus on the measurement of the human rights situation of our indigenous peoples (IPs).

The activity will involve the development of the conceptual and preparatory work for the conduct of a survey on human rights next year including the questionnaires and the pre-testing.   It was conceptualized and provided assistance under the METAGORA Project, which aims to develop and test statistical methods, tools and indicators that would allow the assessment of human rights and governance in its various dimensions.   It also resulted in the attendance of a number of Philippine participants in two international conferences in Switzerland and Mexico that underscored the lack of quantitative data and indicators on human rights.

The Philippine support for the METAGORA Project is in close coordination with the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) to be undertaken for a period of one year.   The OECD/PARIS 21 and the Swiss Federal Statistical Office in part funded this major undertaking.

For more information, please contact

Tel. No.:   928-4471 and

Look for Ms. Lucy J. Raterta