PH wins new term to UN rights council

MANILA, Philippines—Even as an international watchdog group questioned its qualifications to sit as a member of the rights body, the Philippines has won reelection for a three-year term to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The Philippines obtained the second highest number of votes with 182, two votes behind Indonesia, during the voting which was conducted by secret ballot among member states at the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

In a statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the country’s election to a new term at the Geneva-based body was “a clear indication of the appreciation and confidence of the international community in the significant gains in our human rights record and the strong commitment of the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III to further protect and advance human rights not only in our country but also around the world.”

“The Philippines is a vibrant democracy working very hard to further consolidate and strengthen the gains we have achieved in human rights, together with the rights which we fought for that led to the restoration of democracy at Edsa in 1986,” said Ambassador Libran Cabactulan, the country’s Permanent Representative to the UN.

“Human rights is a cornerstone of good governance, as enunciated by President Aquino himself, and the world, through our election to the Human Rights Council with a fresh mandate, recognizes this national commitment of ours,” he added.

The Philippines was among 15 new members—Austria, Benin, Botswana, the Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Kuwait, Burkina Faso, Chile, Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Italy, Peru and Romania—elected to the 47-member UNHRC for the term 2011 to 2014.

On the eve of the vote, however, the UN Watch, a Geneva-based advocacy group, said the Philippines had questionable qualifications for council membership.

UN Watch was one of several rights groups that evaluated the candidate-countries’ record of domestic human rights protection and UN voting history.

“The Philippines is ranked ‘partly free’ by Freedom House, receiving a score of 3 out of a worst possible 7 on both political rights and on civil rights,” UN Watch said in a report it submitted to the General Assembly.

It also said that in the past year, “the Philippines abstained on the resolutions condemning the human rights situations in Iran, Burma (Myanmar) and North Korea.” The Philippines also abstained on the resolution on “combating defamation of religions,” UN Watch said.

On the latter issue, UN Watch said the Philippines failed to join other democracies and human rights groups in opposing a UN resolution prohibiting criticism of Islam, which rights experts have said restricted freedom of speech.

Only 10 qualified

According to the advocacy group, only 10 of 17 candidates to the UN’s top human rights body were fully qualified. These are Austria, Benin, Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Peru and Romania.

“Unfortunately some of the worst violators of human rights get elected to the body,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.

Apart from the Philippines, five other countries—Indonesia, India, Kuwait, Burkina Faso and Congo—that were elected for the 2011-2014 term were cited by the UN Watch as having questionable qualifications or poor rights records.

UN Watch found “questionable” the qualifications of Burkina Faso, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, and pronounced the Congo and Kuwait “not qualified.”

The UN General Assembly approved Kuwait as a replacement candidate for Syria amid growing alarm over the Syrian security forces’ violent crackdown on protesters.

Kuwait announced Wednesday it was replacing Syria as a proposed council member amid widespread opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on opponents.

Third time around

The advocacy group assessed the qualifications of the countries using information and analysis from international reports by nongovernment organizations, including Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House.

This is the third time that the Philippines has been elected to a seat in the UNHRC. The first time was during the council’s inaugural session in 2006 and the second was for the 2007-2010 term.

The Philippines was among the nine elected—Burkina Faso, Chile, Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Italy, Peru and Romania—that have previously served in the council.

The UNHRC is made up of 47 UN member-states and is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the world.  Reports from Tina G. Santos and Reuters