HEADLINE | LAPID SLAY CASE | MANILA- UN Rights Rapporteurs Arriving In Phl; Koko Says Culture Of Impunity Still Prevails
The visits of the Special rapporteurs from the United Nations were set after a formal invitation was announced by then justice secretary Menardo Guevarra last February.
Special rapporteurs from the United Nations will be looking into issues of sexual exploitation of children, freedom of expression and other human rights-related challenges in the Philippines beginning late this month until early next year.
Mama Fatima Singhateh, UN special rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, is set to visit the country from Nov. 28 to Dec. 8 “to assess the situation and the progress made in combating and preventing the sale and sexual exploitation of children in the light of international human rights norms and standards.”
Memento Maxima Digital Marketing @Irene Khan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, will arrive in the country in early 2023.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has welcomed the upcoming visits of the rapporteurs.
“The Commission emphasizes the important contribution of special rapporteurs in the international human rights protection mechanism. As independent experts, they are expected and have been proven to act with probity and constant regard to human rights principles and standards,” the CHR said on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
In Geneva, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla welcomed the decision of the special rapporteurs to visit the Philippines.
“No problem, we can engage them,” Remulla told The Philippine STAR in a Viber message on Wednesday evening when asked to comment on the planned visits.
Remulla is currently in Switzerland for the country’s fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) along with other Philippine government officials.
CHR said, “Their standing at the international level gives them the capacity to look at country situations with a fresh and unprejudiced eye.
“As such, their findings, conclusions and recommendations offer competent, objective, constructive and specific advice to government actors on how to implement voluntarily undertaken human rights obligations, as well as emerging norms for the universal respect of all human rights,” it added.
The visits were set after a formal invitation was announced by then justice secretary Menardo Guevarra, during his speech at the 49th session of the UNHRC last February.
Guevarra explained that the country visits will be planned and implemented within the scope of the Philippines-United Nations Joint Program on technical cooperation for the protection and promotion of human rights.
“The Commission reiterates its acknowledgement of the national government for extending an invitation… Special Rapporteurs with thematic mandates, such as Ms. Singhateh and Ms. Khan, undertake country visits to assess the general situation of human rights at the national level,” the CHR said.
“During these visits, they meet with national and local authorities, including the national government and members of the judiciary, as well as other stakeholders, including civil society organizations and victims of human rights violations. These visits result in the publication of findings, conclusions and recommendations which aim to improve the realization of human rights on the ground,” it added.
The commission said it will “actively take part in and contribute inputs” to the visiting special rapporteurs, based on information collected from its regional presences and the Protection and Policy clusters at the CHR headquarters.
Meanwhile, the CHR called on the national government “to recognize the competence of special procedures mandate-holders” by issuing invitations to them to visit the country and con-duct “independent assessments of the human rights situation on the ground.”
Asked about the government’s efforts against sexual exploitation of children, Remulla said the Philippine government is “moving very fast” on the issue and also emphasized that freedom of expression can be improved by reconsidering and reviewing the issue of libel and cyber libel.
Department of Justice spokesman Mico Clavano said the DOJ is working double time against sexual exploitation of minors in partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
Clavano also emphasized that the DOJ “will be fully cooperative and will assist” in whatever the public needs to protect freedom of expression and opinion.
But he said “there are no politics in seeking justice – there is only the truth and what is fair.”
At the Senate, Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III rebutted Remulla’s claim that there is no culture of impunity in the country given numerous unsolved extrajudicial killings.
“There is a culture of impunity prevailing… given the many unsolved crimes, especially murders. Those unsolved violent crimes mostly involve the poor and the voiceless. Even non-political nature violent crimes, if left unsolved, contribute to this culture of impunity,” Pimentel said.
He said unresolved killings were “dangerous” as the deterrent effect of the country’s criminal laws and the entire justice system will lose strength “and we don’t want to degenerate into a chaotic and practically lawless society.”
Murder decreases
Killings in the country have decreased by nearly 12 percent this year, the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported on Wednesday.
Data from the PNP showed there were 3,706 murder cases documented nationwide from January to November this year, which is lower by 11.95 percent compared to 4,209 incidents during the same period in 2021.
Murder is among the index crimes being monitored by the PNP to determine the overall peace and order situation in the country.
The other index crimes are homicide, physical injury, rape, robbery, theft and vehicle theft.
Homicide cases dropped by 12.04 percent from 977 to 877.
Cases of rape went down from 8,225 to 7,197, a decrease of about 12:50 percent.
PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo attributed the decrease to their implementation of enhanced managing police operations which includes deployment of police officers in public places.
Car theft cases went down by 21.63 percent from 319 to 250, while motorcycle theft incidents decreased from 1,676 to 1,657, a decline of 2.33 percent.
It was the same trend for physical injury cases which dropped from 4,704 to 4,551, a decrease of 3.25 percent.
Meanwhile, there was a 0.30 percent increase in robbery incidents from 4,318 to 4,331.
Cases of theft also increased, from 10,344 to 11,295, a spike of 9.19 percent.
Overall, the crime rate in the country decreased by 2.66 percent from 34,982 to 34,050. – With Robertzon Ramirez, Paolo Romero, Emmanuel Tupas
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