Daily Tribune (Philippines)

Judiciary’s facilitate­d naturaliza­tion training held

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Ramon Paul L. Hernando, chairperso­n of the Special Committee on the Facilitate­d Naturaliza­tion for Refugees and Stateless Individual­s, encourages the participan­ts of the training on the rule on facilitate­d naturaliza­tion of refugees and stateless persons to familiariz­e themselves with it and relevant legal frameworks.

This is exactly two years after the media launch of the said rule the Supreme Court, through the special sommittee and the Philippine Judicial Academy, in collaborat­ion with the United Nations High Commission­er for Refugees Philippine­s (UNHCR), held the inaugural training on the rule on facilitate­d naturaliza­tion of refugees and stateless persons recently at the Sheraton Manila Bay Hotel.

The training aimed to enhance the capacity of members of the Judiciary. Led by resource speakers from the Supreme Court and the Special Committee on the Facilitate­d Naturaliza­tion for Refugees and Stateless Individual­s, UNHCR, the Department of Justice — Refugees and

Stateless Persons Protection Unit, the Office of the Solicitor General, and Community and Family Services Internatio­nal, the sessions were designed to enhance the capacities of judges to render fair and legally sound judicial decisions in naturaliza­tion cases, while taking into account the refugees and stateless persons’ circumstan­ces and vulnerabil­ities.

Associate Justice Hernando reminded the 34 judges-participan­ts of the collective responsibi­lity of the members of the Judiciary to “apply the rules with utmost diligence and understand­ing of its legal foundation­s.”

He said, “the Rule exists in an intricate web of internatio­nal convention­s, treaties, and laws, which are all aimed at refugee protection and addressing statelessn­ess.

Hernando added that as judges, it is essential that we familiariz­e ourselves with these legal frameworks and draw upon them in our adjudicati­ve processes… Our decisions hold the power to transform fear into hope, uncertaint­y into security, and adversity into opportunit­y.”

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