Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 24) — The human rights situation in the Philippines is “better” than it was during the previous administration, the European Parliament said on Friday.
\”It is better than it was under President [Rodrigo] Duterte, I think that we can clearly state,\” parliament member Hannah Neumann said in a media briefing with other European lawmakers when asked to assess the state of the country.
\”We clearly had the impression that everyone was willing to discuss human rights issues with us,\” she added.
Neumann also said there are \”pronouncements\” from the Philippine side \”that could indeed improve things if they were implemented.\”
\”Will they be implemented? We can’t tell you. We can only observe,\” she stressed.
During their stay in the Philippines for the past week, Neumann and other members of the European Parliament held dialogues on human rights with several officials – including the Department of Justice and their counterparts in Congress.
READ: DOJ chief, EU lawmakers tackle human rights, ICC probe in Manila meeting
While the EU delegates praised the government’s \”promising first steps\” to improve the rights situation in the country, they still floated some suggestions.
