Philippines, UN finalizing joint program on human rights — Guevarra

The Philippines and the United Nations resident coordinator in the country are finalizing the UN Joint Program on Human Rights (UNJP), Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.

Guevarra said the discussions on the program document ended on May 31.

“The program document outlines the objectives, strategies, and targets of the UNJP towards credible and measurable outcomes and concrete impact on the ground, especially for vulnerable groups,” the Cabinet official said in a video statement posted on the Facebook page of the Department of Foreign Affairs on Sunday.

“We are presently in the process of finalizing the administrative requirements for the formal signing of this program document at the soonest opportunity.”

The discussions on the UNJP came after the UN Human Rights Council offered last October to provide technical cooperation and capacity building for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines.

The UNJP seeks to support the Philippine government in strengthening its accountability mechanisms, the administration of justice, as well as investigations and data collection on allegations of human rights violations.

The three-year program also aims to better promote a human rights-based approach to curbing the drug menace.

Under the program, the UN will support evidence-based treatment and care services for people who use drugs.

It will capacitate national and local authorities, as well as teachers, guidance counsellors, families, and communities in crafting and carrying out appropriate interventions to address the needs of these people in their recovery and reintegration to society.

Capacity-building activities aimed at alleviating prison overcrowding by strengthening criminal justice responses for drug-related crimes will also be undertaken.

“As the pandemic  continues,  the threat  of infection inside many overcrowded prisons where social distancing is impossible demands our most urgent attention,” Guevarra said.

Guevarra said the UNJP also aims to further capacitate the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the tracking, evaluation and analysis  and processing  of allegations of human rights violations.

“This initiative is crucial to address not only the  demands  for justice  of victims of abuses; it is also vital in the realization of the objective of the PNP leadership to cleanse its ranks and further professionalize the institution,” he said.

Programs designed to enhance victim and witness protection systems, and to improve the investigative and prosecutorial functions of the Administrative Order (AO) 35 mechanism, which investigates cases of gross violations of human rights and violations of humanitarian  law, also form part of the UNJP.

Guevarra said the AO 35 mechanism is investigating around 1,500 complaints of alleged violations of humanitarian law, which were “mostly committed by communist terrorist groups.”

“A strengthened capacity to investigate and  prosecute  human rights  and humanitarian law cases, coupled with greater cooperation from victims and witnesses before, during and after trial, should result in improved rates of conviction against perpetrators,” he said.

Further, the UNJP plans to establish a national referral pathway for human rights cases to assist complainants in accessing appropriate and existing domestic mechanisms and thereby strengthen accountability.

“It is also to be emphasized that under the UNJP, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHR) and civil society are, and will continue to be, actively engaged as part of an inclusive process,” Guevarra said.

“Presently, data and information on specific human rights cases are being made available between the AO 35 mechanism and the CHR within the context of a data sharing agreement to further help our respective offices in the discharge of our investigative and prosecutorial mandate.” — RSJ, GMA News