Human rights review
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Menardo Guevarra led the Philippine delegation that entered into the lion’s den, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council that held its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, Switzerland days ago. The UPR allowed the Philippines and other states to report efforts to address human rights concerns in their turfs.
A UN member-state is subjected to a human rights record review every four years. The Philippines’ human rights record was first reviewed in 2008 (the UPR was conceived in 2006) or under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, with the next review following in 2012 or under Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Interestingly, the next UPR for us would be in 2020, which would still be under President Rodrigo Duterte.
The current Philippine human rights record review by the UN came less than a year since the Duterte administration launched an intensified drive against the illegal drugs trade that caught the attention of international human rights organization and local and foreign media primarily because of its cost in lives. To be fair, the drive is supported by many in the country but is condemned globally.
I say Cayetano was one of the best persons to lead that delegation because he was among the original promoters of the current anti-illegal drugs drive when he was Duterte’s running mate in last year’s presidential elections. He also came up with a novel way of counting the thousands killed in the anti-drugs campaign and comparing the number with those killed in the previous administration. Besides, he has been tested as an arguer—he doesn’t flinch even when put on the defensive.
Unfortunately for Cayetano and the Philippine delegation, perceptions shaped by months of monitoring developments in the country can’t be changed by several minutes of power-point presentation. It was obvious that the representatives of various countries that listened to the Philippine delegation’s summation of the our human rights record already have a set notion of the Philippine situation.
Also, the UN Human Rights Council use as basis for its assessment of the human rights situation in the country universal human rights principles that are, should we say, already set in stone. There can be no differentiation, for example, between the human rights of rebels or drug dealers and the human rights of ordinary people, like what some governments may want to emphasize.
Thus, despite what the Philippine delegation presented during the UPR and Cayetano’s assurance that the country respects human rights, representatives of an overwhelming majority of UN member states still recommended to the Philippine government during the UPR that it come up with a thorough investigation of incidents of extra-judicial killings in the country and ensure that those behind the killings are held accountable.
One cannot fault the Duterte administration’s defense, in the UN Human Rights Council, of the Philippines’ human rights record. But that won’t work if it won’t come up with an honest look at whether the condemnations it received have basis.”