Press Release
October 23, 2018

Hontiveros on the proposal to withdraw PH membership in IPU
A PROPOSAL STRAIGHT OUT OF THE PARIAH STATE PLAYBOOK

*Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on the proposal to withdraw Philippine membership in the IPU

The proposal to withdraw Philippine membership in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) borrows a page from the old pariah state playbook. It is a fake assertion of sovereignty to defend the country's culture of killing and impunity. It is also a virtual admission of guilt on the part of the Duterte government. It only confirms the IPU's serious concerns about our country's worsening human rights record.

If this goes on, the way it's going, the Philippines will soon run out of intergovernmental bodies that it can be part of. First, we withdrew our membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC). Now, this. What's next, we withdraw membership from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or even the United Nations (UN)?

President Rodrigo Duterte cannot withdraw our country from the world. The Philippines is part of a global community joined by the shared respect for democracy, human rights and dignity. We cannot use our country's sovereignty to mask the appalling climate of killing and impunity in the nation. We have an obligation to subject our public policies and even our leaders to international scrutiny, in the same way that we may hold accountable the actions of other nation-states.

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