MANILA, Philippines — A human-rights alliance appealed to families of drug war victims to open up and report their stories following the adoption of a resolution prompting the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to look into the human-rights situation in the Philippines.
“We encourage other families to join us. We know you may be afraid, hurt, angry and just trying to make ends meet, but together we can do something to stop these killings. The world is listening. We need you with us,” Nanay Emily Soriano of Rise Up for Life and for Rights, said in a statement on Friday.
Rise Up also asked church leaders and community organizations to urge and support families affected by the drug-related deaths to report their stories to help in creating a comprehensive report for the UNHRC.
“Their [UNHRC] mandate is to prepare a comprehensive report on human-rights violations in the Philippines. In order for such report to be comprehensive, we ask the help of Churches, community organizations and all Filipinos to encourage and support families affected by drug killings to come forward,” Rubylin Lintao, coordinator of Rise Up, said.
Rise Up welcomed the adoption of the resolution which tasked the UN human-rights body to scrutinized the human-rights violations in the country, including the bloody drug war under the Duterte administration.
During the 41st session in Geneva, 18 of the 47 members states that make up UNHRC approved the draft resolution filed by Iceland on behalf of more than two dozen nations, which formally appealed High Commissioner on Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to present a comprehensive written report on the human-rights woes in the Philippines. /jpv
READ: Greater scrutiny on PH killings gets UN rights council’s nod