MANILA, Philippines – Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita will address next week the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, and report on the human rights situation in the Philippines.
Ermita, chairman of the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC), will conduct an interactive dialogue with the 47-member HRC to be held on April 11 along with other officials of the PHRC, officials said.
PHRC executive director Coco Quisumbing said Malacañang is consolidating reports from various agencies on the human rights situation in the country.
She said the Philippine portion of the interactive dialogue, as the UN termed the meeting, would last for three hours and the written report is expected to be adopted on April 15.
“We will apprise them (HRC) on the progress of our efforts to protect and promote human rights and we’re confident that we can answer all their questions,” Quisumbing told The STAR.
She said the Philippines is one of the first countries to undergo a process called Universal Periodic Review (UPR), wherein member countries of the HRC look into the compliance of all 193 UN member states on provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Quisumbing said the Philippine delegation would cite the more than 80 percent drop in the incidence of unexplained killings in the country, a lingering issue that hounds the Arroyo administration.
She said while the government and militant human rights groups have conflicting records on the number of unexplained killing cases in the country, both agree that such incidents are declining.
Ermita told reporters over the weekend that the government is ready to defend its human rights record before the international community following the favorable assessment of the European Union on the country’s economy and its efforts to address extrajudicial killing.
He said the government was gratified by the favorable EU review on the country’s economy and human rights record.
He said the Arroyo administration has been always open to scrutiny by the international community on the country’s human rights record and has sought the help of foreign experts to address the matter.
Ermita said the EU had based its assessment on the report of Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, who arrived in the country last year to investigate the matter. Alston cited nearly 500 incidents of extrajudicial killings.
He, however, said the Melo Commission and Task Force Usig – two government bodies that investigated the killings – came up with a much lower figure.