A network of faith-based and human rights groups in the Philippines has transmitted this week a report to the United Nations on the human rights situation in the country.
Members of the Ecumenical Voice for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines or EcuVoice said they want to participate in the process of pursuing “justice and accountability.”
EcuVoice is composed of the group Rise Up for Life and for Rights, rights group Karapatan, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, and the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.
Included in the report sent to Geneva are documents on alleged state-sponsored rights violations, including the drug-related killings and attacks on activists, lawyers, and church people.
Edita Burgos, convener of EcuVoice, said they are determined to bring to the attention of the international community alleged violations committed by the Philippine government.
“Most of the church people whose rights are violated are those primarily doing the Christian mandate and mission of ministering to the poor and the marginalized,” read part of the report.
Among those included in the document were the case of Catholic missionary nun Patricia Fox and three United Methodist Church missionaries who were deported from the country.
It also cited the perjury case filed against Good Shepherd Sister Elenita Belardo and the sedition cases filed against Catholic bishops and priests.
The ecumenical group also denounced the “vilification” of churches and church people and the killings of three Catholic priests and a Protestant pastor in recent years.
“Their faith compels them to accompany people in asserting and attaining their full rights, but their faith expression has also put them in danger as they are vilified, harassed and even killed,” read the report.
Rights group Karapatan said that based on the documentation they gathered from July 2016 “we conclude that the human rights situation in the Philippines is worsening.”
Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the group, cited what she described as “disrespect to the right to life and civil liberties, the climate of impunity, and closing civic and democratic spaces.”
Also included in the report are the 293 incidents of extrajudicial killings and the murder of at least 167 human rights defenders in recent years.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers has also recorded at least 44 lawyers and judges who have been killed since 2016.
Burgos said her group will file more documentation on the situation of tribal people, media workers, and other human rights defenders before Jan. 31 next year.
In July, the U.N. approved a resolution submitted by Iceland and 27 other European countries seeking an investigation into the Philippines’ war on drugs campaign.
