| Philippines HRD Report 2019 40 pages / 882 KB |

PHILIPPINES: Casualties on the rise in President
Duterte’s war on human rights defenders, new report says
Geneva-Paris, February 28, 2019 - Human rights
defenders in the Philippines have been increasingly subjected to killings,
attacks, threats, and other forms of harassment under President Rodrigo
Duterte, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
FIDH-OMCT programme, said in a new report released today.
The 40-page report, titled “I’ll kill you along with drug addicts - President Duterte’s war on human rights defenders in the Philippines”, documents the dramatic deterioration of the situation for human rights defenders in the Philippines as a direct result of Duterte’s policies, actions, and words.
“Alongside his infamous ‘war on drugs’, President Duterte has declared
open season on human rights defenders in the Philippines. It’s time for the
international community to press Duterte to end his war on human rights
defenders and ensure accountability for all attacks against them”, said FIDH Secretary-General Debbie Stothard.
Since President Rodrigo Duterte took office on June
30, 2016, his ‘war on drugs’, the continued impunity for human rights abuses,
the imposition of martial law over the entire island of Mindanao since May
2017, and his crude anti-human rights rhetoric have all directly contributed to
an increasingly hostile environment for human rights defenders.
“President Duterte’s violent rhetoric has created a climate in which
attacks against human rights defenders are acceptable and perpetrators are
never punished. Instead of encouraging attacks, threats, and others acts of
harassment against human rights defenders, Duterte and his administration must
immediately adopt urgent measures to investigate such actions and protect
defenders”, said
OMCT Secretary-General Gerald Staberock.
The number of land and environmental defenders, as
well as journalists, killed in the Philippines has increased dramatically
during Duterte’s presidency. From July 2016 to November 2018, at least 76 land
and environmental rights defenders and 12 journalists were killed in connection
with their work. Labour rights activists have also been the target of attacks
and at least eight of them have been killed on Duterte’s watch.
Civil society groups working on human rights issues
have been demonised and vilified under the current administration and reported
increased surveillance, intimidation, threats, and other acts of harassment by
the authorities.
Likewise, members of the independent Commission on
Human Rights (CHR) have been harassed and their mandate called into question by
Duterte’s administration. The credibility of United Nations (UN) experts has
similarly been attacked, with Duterte’s slandering of UN officials.
In the political sphere, the Department of Justice has
pursued criminal charges against a number of Duterte’s political opponents who
have taken strong pro-human rights stances. In an emblematic case, Senator Leila
de Lima has been detained without trial for more than two years under
spurious charges.
President Duterte has demonstrated utter disregard for human rights and
the rule of law by condoning, and even encouraging, extrajudicial killings and
other serious human rights violations. This behaviour has further reinforced
the Philippines’ long-standing culture of impunity. In February 2018, the
ongoing impunity for Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ killings was one of the key
factors that triggered the opening of a preliminary examination by the
International Criminal Court (ICC).
The report urges authorities in the Philippines to put
an end to the prevailing culture of impunity for human rights violations,
including extrajudicial killings and attacks against human rights defenders.
This requires carrying out prompt, thorough, impartial, and transparent
investigations into all allegations of human rights violations against human
rights defenders.
The Observatory
for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in
1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective
of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against
human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European
Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil
society.
For more information, please contact:
· FIDH: Eva Canan: + 33 6 48 05 91 57 -
ecanan@fidh.org
·
OMCT:
Iolanda Jaquemet / Delphine Reculeau: + 41 79 539 41 06 / + 41 22 809 49
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