Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 10) — As the world celebrates Human Rights Day, the country’s commission tasked to protect marginalized and vulnerable sectors said the rights situation in the Philippines is a “work in progress.”
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) also said the situation in the country calls for a constant partnership amongst the government, civil society organizations and stakeholders across the nation.
Though the CHR recognized the government’s small steps in trying to improve the situation in the country, it believes that “much is yet to be realized within the human rights framework, not only within the country, but also across the globe.\”
“The Commission, together with the Philippine government, civil society organizations, and various stakeholders continue to exert their utmost effort in complying with the international human rights standards to ensure that every person lives a life of dignity,” the CHR said on Sunday.
\”It is essential to further our collective actions in battling against discrimination and inequality, especially towards the marginalized, abused, and victimized by the system,\” it ended.
Human rights entities have lamented the situation in the Philippines throughout 2023.
Citing Dahas, a project of the Third World Studies Center of the University of the Philippines, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in January that the human rights situation in the Philippines had “hardly changed” as state forces and the police continued to perpetrate extrajudicial killings, even after the end of the Duterte administration and its bloody war on drugs, which saw thousands dead.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself admitted that the drug war had led to abuses which drew criticism from global organizations and human rights bodies, such as the International Criminal Court.
In November, UN human rights expert Ian Fry called for the abolition of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict as it was operating with impunity by red-tagging and intimidating environmental human rights defenders and indigenous peoples who opposed mining and dam projects.
On the other hand, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in August said that the human rights situation in the Philippines was improving under the Marcos administration.
Human Rights Day is celebrated every Dec. 10. The date was chosen to commemorate the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
