Statement of Sen. Leila M. de Lima on PH's re-election to the UNHRC
Filipinos need more than a seat at the UNHRC

It is the height of hypocrisy and the depth of irony that a government reviled the world over for its murderous war on drugs and other anti-human rights policies is once again given a seat at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the intergovernmental body designed to promote and protect human rights around the world. A government sitting on a monstrous pile of corpses of more than 22,000 mostly poor Filipinos should have no right preaching human rights and taking part in an important global institution tasked to address situations of gross rights violations across the globe.

Kung marumi ang bakuran mo, wala kang karapatang punahin ang iyong kapitbahay. Lalo pa kung ang dungis ay ikaw mismo ang may gawa.

(English Translation: When your own backyard needs cleaning, what right do you have to call out your neighbor's mess? And especially if the mess is your own doing.)

Some might say I'm being unpatriotic with these remarks. Others might claim I'm just being KJ or that I'm sour graping. But, this is the truth. And we should not apologize for telling the truth. It is out of my love for my country and its people that I am precisely critical about this development, or, should I say, lack of development.

Duterte's spin doctors are gloating. Panelo says the re-election is a "repudiation" of the critics of Duterte's so-called war on drugs. Cayetano proclaims it is "proof that many in the international community remain convinced the Philippines respects and protects human rights".

Bigyan nyo ng salamin sina Secretaries Panelo at Cayetano.

(English Translation: Give eyeglasses to Secretaries Panelo and Cayetano.)

If re-election of the Philippines proves anything, it just means Cayetano and his ilk are good in the "numbers game" and in playing up the dynamics at the UN General Assembly. It should not escape us that for the first time in the UNHRC's history, the five (5) voting regions, including Asia, had only submitted as many candidates as there were seats available, thus removing competition, a move seen by some in the international human rights community as a "mockery of the electoral exercise."

In any case, re-election cannot simply erase the Duterte administration's egregious record of human rights violations. At the UNHRC session last year, the Philippine government did not fully accept nearly 60 per cent of the recommendations in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), especially those on vital issues, such as extrajudicial killings, human rights defenders, and freedom of expression. The Philippine government has refused to grant access to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Additionally, several other mandate holders and the High Commissioner for Human Rights have been subject to direct threats and verbal attacks from Duterte.

Re-election cannot cover up the massively deteriorating human rights situation in our country, with the drug war mayhem, the fast erosion of our civil liberties, the mangling of our system of checks and balances in government, and the undermining of the institution of free expression.

Re-election cannot conceal the fact that the current Philippine government has become an ardent defender of other repressive regimes in the region, such as Myanmar and Cambodia.

If at all, re-election should be a reminder and a needed pressure on the present Philippine government to fulfil its human rights obligations under the various treaties and international law. It should be compelled to cooperate with the UNHRC and the UN mechanisms.

At the minimum, I urgently call on the current Philippine government to:

•  Stop EJKs in 'war on drugs', and cooperate with an international independent investigation into the killings;

•  Fully accept the recommendations in the 2017 UPR and to immediately implement the same;

•  Grant full access to the Special Rapporteur on EJKs, and other mandate holders; and

•  Take steps to support UNHRC's scrutiny on its own human rights situation and those of other ASEAN countries, such as Cambodia and Myanmar

This seems to be a good time to remind us all that, ultimately, more than winning a seat for the government at the UNHRC, what the Filipinos really need and deserve is a place among the civilized nations, a seat at the theatre of humanity where the inherent, universal and inalienable dignity and equality of all human persons are fully respected and truly protected.