{"id":589709,"date":"2022-04-05T08:44:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T08:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.forum-asia.org\/?p=36768"},"modified":"2022-04-05T08:44:08","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T08:44:08","slug":"hrc49-joint-oral-statement-on-item-10-general-debate-on-technical-assistance-and-capacity-building-general-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/04\/05\/hrc49-joint-oral-statement-on-item-10-general-debate-on-technical-assistance-and-capacity-building-general-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"HRC49 Joint Oral Statement on Item 10: General debate on technical assistance and capacity-building \u2013 General Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>49<sup>th<\/sup> regular session of the UN Human Rights Council<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Item <\/strong><strong>10: General debate on technical assistance and capacity-building &#8211; General Debate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Delivered by Ahmed Adam<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>On behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u00a0March 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qXd5ejkZhVI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. President,<\/p>\n<p>The Joint Programme on human rights between the UN and the Philippine government to provide technical assistance <em>and capacity building <\/em>to the Philippines, <em>as part of the implementation of the resolution 45\/33, <\/em>remains insufficient to address systematic and widespread human rights violations and ensure accountability.<\/p>\n<p>We welcome the Joint Programme\u2019s priorities to strengthen domestic accountability mechanisms and rights-based approach to counterterrorism. However, it falls far short of these aims. We regret that it fails to stem ongoing violations, including extra judicial killings; combat impunity; roll back institutionalized repression; and restore independence and credibility of democratic institutions.\u00a0 In December 2021, the Supreme Court upheld The Anti-Terrorism Act 2020, despite multiple petitions questioning its constitutionality. The law has created a chilling environment where expression and dissent are seen as security threats. Human rights defenders, activists and community leaders, <em>including those who have engaged with the Council,<\/em> have been threatened and tagged as terrorists merely for criticising State policies.<\/p>\n<p>We regret the deferral of the ICC investigation on the Philippines. The decision of the Court perpetuates impunity and will further embolden autocratic leaders and repressive governments by allowing them to escape accountability for their crimes. <em>Without accountability, perpetrators and enablers of Duterte\u2019s \u2018war on drugs\u2019 are contesting this year\u2019s elections with the aim of continuing the cycle of violence and impunity even beyond Duterte\u2019s Presidency.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Council must continue its scrutiny of the situation in the Philippines, and in clear absence of domestic accountability, establish international accountability measures, as recommended by the High Commissioner in June 2020. Without genuine accountability, the joint programme will serve only as a means for the government to evade justice under the cover of cooperation.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>For the PDF version of this statement, click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forum-asia.org\/uploads\/wp\/2022\/04\/FORUM-ASIA-OS-Item10-GD-Philippines-final.pdf\">here<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forum-asia.org\/?p=36768\">FORUM-ASIA<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>49th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council Item 10: General debate on technical assistance and capacity-building \u2013 General Debate \u00a0\u00a0 Delivered by Ahmed Adam On behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation \u00a0March 2022 \ufeff\ufeff \u00a0 Mr. President, The Joint Programme on human <a class=\"excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forum-asia.org\/?p=36768\" rel=\"nofollow\">[ Read more ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10086,2093],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589709"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":590077,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589709\/revisions\/590077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}