HRW urges PH cooperation in rights probe

The Duterte government is inviting comparisons to restrictive states like North Korea and Myanmar if it refuses to allow the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the country, Human Rights Watch (HRW) deputy director Phil Robertson said on Friday.

“Given some of the statements made by the government after the Human Rights Council resolution, it looks like they got some North Koreans working in their speech writing department,” Robertson said.

Robertson was in the Philippines for a week of meetings following the passage of the Iceland-initiated resolution that mandates the rights body to look into the human rights situation in the country.

“This government has got a lot of ego and wants to be seen as macho. It wants to show the Philippines can stand up to the UN. But once you start a process of noncooperation, the reports are just stronger because there’s no opposing point of view,” he said.

President Duterte has repeatedly said that the administration will block any attempt of the UNHRC to enter the country to investigate, by either barring their entry at immigration or not granting them visas.

Will backfire on PH

But Robertson said any attempt to block the entry of UN workers would only backfire on the Philippines.

“What we’ve seen in places like Myanmar and North Korea, their refusal to collaborate or cooperate just means that the resolutions [against them] get stronger and stronger,” he said.

Myanmar is facing international pressure over atrocities allegedly committed by its military against the Muslim minority Rohingya.

About 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from the western state of Rakhine after a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in 2017, while North Korea remains to be a reclusive state that does not allow check and balances from the international community.

To avoid being compared to the two Asian states that have earned a reputation for gross human rights abuses, Robertson said the Duterte administration should try to find a way to cooperate with the United Nations on the inquiry.

Present case to UNHRC

“If the government is being smart about it, they would try to find a way to collaborate, because that will allow the government to present its case to the UNHRC. If they refuse to participate, if they act like they are indignant and they won’t cooperate, all they’re doing is hurting themselves,” he said.

If the Duterte administration remains stubborn, which Robertson believes it will, he said there were many ways in which the UNHRC could investigate and write the report, since the United Nations “knows how to deal with these situations,” and there were plenty of ways to get information outside official channels.

Likewise, human rights groups like HRW, as well as local organizations, will likely submit their own reports.

Already, a day after the Iceland resolution was passed last month, Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said their organization was prepared to assist the UNHRC in conducting the investigation.