{"id":3145,"date":"2017-05-16T12:29:27","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T11:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrdmemorial.org\/ru\/philippines-under-review-rodrigo-duterte-must-no-longer-turn-a-blind-eye-to-the-fate-of-human-rights-defenders\/"},"modified":"2017-05-16T17:20:21","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T16:20:21","slug":"philippines-under-review-rodrigo-duterte-must-no-longer-turn-a-blind-eye-to-the-fate-of-human-rights-defenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrdmemorial.org\/ru\/philippines-under-review-rodrigo-duterte-must-no-longer-turn-a-blind-eye-to-the-fate-of-human-rights-defenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines under review: Rodrigo Duterte must no longer turn a blind eye to the fate of human rights defenders"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The human rights record of the Philippines came under scrutiny on 8 May 2017 during the 27th<\/sup> session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. After the initial review of the national report submitted by the Philippines, member states of the UNHRC made their recommendations. In this article Front Line Defenders looks at the critical situation for human rights defenders, HRDs in the Philippines.
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During the previous UPR of the Philippines in 2012, only four countries1<\/sup><\/a> had raised concern with regard to the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs) in the Philippines, resulting in five official recommendations. While the Philippines merely acknowledged the recommendation pertaining to cooperation with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, it accepted two concerning the protection of HRDs from extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. During the examination, the government committed itself to taking \u201cfirm measures to address the problem of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances\u201d. Despite those assurances, extra-judicial killings and targeted attacks on HRDs have continued to take place. T<\/span><\/span>h<\/span><\/span>e<\/span><\/span> government report <\/span><\/span>under current review<\/span><\/span> made no mention of the risks facing HRDs <\/span><\/span>or<\/span><\/span> the measures <\/span><\/span>taken<\/span><\/span> to prevent their targeting, <\/span><\/span>thus demonstrating how little <\/span><\/span>progress<\/span><\/span> has been made <\/span><\/span>in<\/span><\/span> implement<\/span><\/span>ing<\/span><\/span> such recommendations <\/span><\/span>over<\/span><\/span> the past five years, and particularly under the new administration.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast, in its 2017 review, eleven states called for the establishment of protection mechanisms for HRDs and recommended that the Philippines \u201cshould provide a safe and enabling environment for the work of human rights defenders\u201d2<\/sup><\/a>. The dire need for the recognition of their positive and legitimate work in defence of human rights was also raised by some member states, highlighting how much the issue of the dangers faced by human rights defenders in the Philippines has gained momentum in recent years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to the 2017 review, Front Line Defenders submitted stakeholders\u2019 report with recommendations to the government of the Philippines pertaining to the protection of HRDs which called on the government to take effective action to: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n