Can a New UN Resolution Stop the Killings in the Philippines?

On July 11, 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution sponsored by Iceland that calls for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines. The resolution spotlighted efforts by the international community to address the human rights abuses brought about by the administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Iceland-sponsored resolution asks the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a comprehensive report about the situation in the Philippines and submit it to the UNHRC in June 2020. Eighteen countries voted yes on the resolution, 15 abstained, and 14 opposed. Iceland said that 35 states had initially signed up as co-sponsors of the resolution, and it added that the filing of the resolution was necessary “because all reports indicate that the human rights situation in the Philippines continues to deteriorate.”

As expected, the Philippines denounced the resolution and the countries that voted in favor of it. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) ridiculed the “slim majority” that carried forward the resolution. It also raised the brutal colonial legacy of some of the countries that supported the resolution, and reminded them of their accountability in enforcing similar anti-crime programs in their respective countries.

“Do not presume to threaten states with accountability for a tough approach to crushing crime, at which some of your countries are complicit at worst and tolerant at best,” the DFA statement said.

The DFA also described the resolution as a travesty of human rights. “We will not accept a politically partisan and one-sided resolution, so detached from the truth on the ground.”

This reaction is expected from a government that has consistently denied the bloody impact of its so-called war on drugs. Since 2016, when Duterte came to power, the police have conducted an aggressive anti-drug campaign resulting in the killing of thousands in poor urban communities. Human rights groups have estimated that the number of fatalities has reached more than 25,000; the police say this figure is bloated. The government also rejected the accusation that state forces were behind the rise of drug-related extrajudicial killings.

The UN resolution could have been seen as an opportunity for the government to cooperate with the international community in correcting the confusion and what it alleges is misinformation about the country’s human rights record. Instead, the Philippine government quickly dismissed the initiative as another Western conspiracy to meddle in the country’s domestic affairs.

In contrast to the government’s response, civil society groups welcomed the resolution as a step in the right direction to determine the truth and demand justice for the human rights atrocities committed under the Duterte government. So far, legislative inquiries and judicial challenges have failed to persuade the government to acknowledge that rampant abuses have worsened in the past three years. The ruling party relied on its super majority coalition in Congress to quash any attempt to link the president to the drug-related killings and the existence of the dreaded “death squads.” The president also got his wish to remove the incumbent chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Seen from this perspective, the investigation to be pursued by the UN is one of the only remaining options to conduct an independent initiative where victims, grassroots activists, and other witnesses can share testimonies about the human rights impact of Duterte’s controversial policies.

But can the UN resolution compel the Duterte government to cooperate? Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque described it as a “toothless tiger” and a “shaming machinery,” which can neither pass a sentence on anyone nor impose sanctions. He added that the content of the resolution only calls for the drafting of a report about the country’s human rights situation.

But Roque, a former human rights lawyer before he joined the Duterte government, should know how the UN resolution can be used as a credible legal weapon by civil society members to inspire various groups and communities to speak out and resist the state-sponsored attacks directed against critics of the government.

The text of the resolution also mentions the broader consequences of Duterte’s “all-out war,” which has already claimed the lives of hundreds of lawyers, farmers, journalists, church leaders, local officials, environmentalists, and indigenous peoples. This is significant because it highlights that the problem is not just limited to the drug war and that the Duterte government could be held liable for the alarming wider rise of extrajudicial killings.

The ferocious reaction of Duterte and his apologists to the Iceland-sponsored resolution betrays their fear of being held accountable for abetting the further deterioration of human rights in the country. Duterte said his government has nothing to hide, yet his minions in the bureaucracy and Congress have recently proposed the reinstatement of the death penalty, the restoration of the anti-subversion law, and the passage of amendments to the Human Security Act, which are aimed at instilling fear and detering critics. The police even filed sedition charges against opposition politicians and critical Catholic bishops a week after the adoption of the UN resolution.

Human rights groups are worried that the worsening political situation could make it harder for UN investigators to ferret out the truth. State forces have become more vicious in militarized communities, trumped up cases were filed against critics and activists, and cyberspace continues to be polluted by pro-government trolls spreading misinformation and hate.

Given these circumstances, the UN resolution has become more valid and relevant for developments within the Philippines. At the very least, it will hopefully motivate more groups to mobilize and gather information about what’s happening in the Philippines, even if the situation on the ground itself does not get much better.