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Geneva , Switzerland – CHR Chairperson Leila De Lima appeared today at the 11 th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) and delivered the Commission’s Comments on the follow up report of Mr. Philip Alston. It will be recalled that the latter visited the Philippines in 2007 to look into the extrajudicial and summary executions in the country. A report on his Mission was issued on 16 April 2008, and a follow-up report issued recently, on 29 April 2009. (Click here for the comment)
Focusing on the Davao Death Squad (DDS), Chair De Lima informed the Council of the CHR’s series of investigation on the DDS and the witnesses’ and informants’ “reservations in testifying because of the continuing lack of confidence in the justice system and for fear for their safety.” She expressed also the Commission’s disappointment on the “mixed cooperation from the uniformed services during public hearings on shoot-outs involving the police and criminal elements.” According to her, the Commission attributes this low regard for the legal processes as another symptom of the culture of impunity.
To this, she once again called on the government especially the legislature to pass pending bills which address command responsibility, and to come up with a credible witness protection program. Relative to bills seeking the strengthening of the witness protection program, Chair De Lima echoed FLAG’s observation that ‘not a single bill amends the penalty for interfering with witnesses’ and “current proposals focus on anti-corruption witnesses viewed to have little direct impact, on addressing reluctant witnesses to extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions”
Chair De Lima also reported that “Insurgency groups continue to commit human rights abuses including kidnapping and killings of civilians and non-combatants.”
Mr. Alston, in his own verbal report to the HRC, took note of a “reinvigorated” Philippines Human Rights Commission and its opening of a “major and highly credible investigation of the death squad in Davao .”
In response, Chair De Lima commented that the CHR will be further reinvigorated with the desired passage of the CHRP Charter, with features such as strengthened investigation mandate aided by quasi-judicial power, ‘stand-by’ prosecutorial powers and increased budgetary resources.”
In this regard, the Head of the CHR sought the HRC’s support for its Charter, as an urgent measure for the Philippine government to contribute in abating continuing violations of human rights in the country.
Aside from the intervention at the HRC, Chair De Lima will attend a side event on the emerging role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) on the business and human rights agenda, where the panelists and participants shall tackle the ‘protect, respect and remedy’ framework in addressing corporate-related human rights abuses.
(Enclosed: CHRP’s original, unabridged written statement and the abbreviated version thereof as actually delivered under a 3-minute time limit)