CHR head: Rights violators’ day of reckoning coming

Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chair Chito Gascon lambasted world leaders, including President Rodrigo Duterte, for undermining human rights through their “hurtful” words.

“Words matter,” Gascon said at Monday’s launch of the Philippine Human Rights Festival 2018.

He said leaders who attacked human rights through their pronouncements wrongly influenced the youth who “imbibe” such disregard for the rights of others.

But the day of reckoning for such leaders, like US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, would certainly come, Gascon said.

“Those who speak harmful words and take actions that undermine human dignity and violate the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be held to account sooner, rather than later,” he said.

He expressed lament that 31 years since “a human rights Constitution was enshrined” in the Philippines, the recognition of human rights had not happened “over several administrations.”

But under the Duterte administration, Gascon added, human rights violations became more blatant in the form of thousands of people being killed on mere suspicion of drug or other crimes.

What made matters worse, he said, was the absence of transparency in the war on drugs with the government blocking access by human rights advocates to key records and sources of information.