CHR launches 2-day public inquiry on red-tagging

Inquirer/Niño Jesus Orbeta

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) announced on Monday that it is set to launch a public inquiry starting on July 29-30, 2024, intended to discuss the prevalent issue of red-tagging in the Philippines.

The inquiry aims to deal with the act of red-tagging and listen to relevant stakeholders’ different recommendations in a bid to counter human rights violations related to the issue.

READ: Red-tagging a threat to life and liberty – SC

“We recognize that [red-tagging] is a widespread practice, therefore a matter of serious concern which may pose grave threats to one’s life, liberty, and security. We hope that this inquiry will help us come up with concrete recommendations to ultimately address the situation through the willingness of duty-bearers and rights-holders to participate in this undertaking,” CHR Chairperson Richard Palpal-latoc said in a statement.

The inquiry, titled “Public Inquiry on the Current Situation of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) with focus on incidents of Red-Tagging,” is a fact-finding undertaking in aid of investigation with the help of experts in different fields, such as researchers, educators, investigators, and policymakers.

In its inaugural session, the inquiry is slated to cluster national and internationally renowned resource experts in knowing systemic violations connected to red-tagging.

The CHR hopes that this public inquiry will help promote and protect every Filipino’s human rights by working with the public and the government to discuss the issue.

The commission added that it also believes that the inquiry will push conversations addressing human rights violations related to red-tagging and that it will help in making legal policies to protect the most vulnerable through “effective accountability and redress mechanisms, and access to justice.” —Arianne Denisse Cagsawa, INQUIRER.net intern