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April 17, 2008, The Philippine Star, 'RP human rights report well applauded at UN — by own delegation'

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April 17, 2008, The Philippine Star, 'RP human rights report well applauded at UN — by own delegation'

The Philippine Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Watch slammed the country’s delegation for its self-serving claims of a well-received report of its human rights record before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

According to UPR Watch, the Philippine delegation which submitted the report before the UNHRC session made “delusional claims” of the country’s adherence to human rights despite its spotty record.

The group also criticized Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita for hyping up reports the Philippine delegation to the UNHRC was warmly received by the international body.

“What his (Ermita’s) account did not say is that the applause was initiated and came mostly from the rest of the Filipino bureaucrats who formed part of Ermita’s 40-member team,” the UPR Watch said.

In his closing statement following the submission of the draft report, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Enrique Manalo, as co-chairman of the Philippine delegation, said the government fully committed itself to uphold human rights in the country with its security forces as “human rights advocate and defender.”

Manalo said the Philippine government fully engaged civil society in preparing the Philippine National Report (PNR) for submission to the UNHRC.

Manalo, in his statement on behalf of the Philippine government, said, “We are deeply gratified that the report, presentation and answers the Philippines provided during its UPR session were well received. We are pleased that they were taken as clear manifestations that the Philippines is a human rights advocate and defender.”

But the Philippine UPR Watch said the government merely paid lip service to fulfill so-called voluntary commitments concerning women and children, unexplained killings and the needs of the poor.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” the group said. “The so-called engagement with civil society was perfunctory and smacks of tokenism. The high level Philippine delegation was a platoon of bureaucrats sent by President Arroyo in its damage-control and face-saving efforts.”

The group said Ermita himself was not ready to answer questions coming from the Missions.

The PNR, the group said, is not an indication of the Philippine government’s resolve to stop human rights violations in the country.

They said the report was “a series of generalized statements primarily to appease the international community.”

The UNHRC adopted the draft report past midnight Wednesday (Manila time) in Geneva where the international body is based. Unexplained killings and forced disappearances have been a black eye for the Arroyo administration but officials maintained such incidents have gone down by over 80 percent since last year.

The draft was prepared by a troika of countries which was determined by raffle, in consultation with the Philippine delegation and with assistance from the UNHRC Secretariat. The three were Malaysia, Mali and Germany.

Ermita, who arrived from Geneva yesterday, issued a statement saying the UNHRC “adopted without any debate its report on the UPR session on the Philippines – in which individual States noted the Philippines’ commitment to human rights while pointing out issues of their particular interest and concern.”

He said Malaysian Permanent Representative, Ambassador Hsu King Bee, presented the draft to the body on behalf of the troika countries.

She “commend(ed) the Philippine delegation for its active and constructive approach to the troika working group” which enabled the group to reach a draft with little divergence of views, and in concurrence with the new template for reports on UPR sessions, Ermita said.

“Because this is the very first session of the UPR, the procedures for the review of countries is undergoing refinements,” he said.

Ermita said the number of speakers who took the floor – 41 countries – was itself “a very good indication of the level of support and respect the Philippines enjoy from the countries in the human rights council.” – With Paolo Romero, Cecille Suerte Felipe

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