Human rights defenders who support the Council’s attention to the situation in the Philippines; including NGO Karapatan

Cases
Location of case in SG report
2020-095-001
Relevant SG report
Year of the report
2020
Country Geolocation

Latitude: 12.879721

Longitude: 121.774017

Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
Philippines
From Region
UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
  • UN Treaty Bodies: CEDAW
Dates of prior UN action
2 July 2019
Type of record
Unnamed individual/group/organization
Was the victim a foreign national?
No
Was the victim a minor?
No
Type of rights defended
  • Unclear in SG Report
Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
No
Reported trigger of reprisal

human rights defenders who support the Council’s attention to the situation in the Philippines

Engagement with UN body
  • UN Human Rights Council: UN Human Rights Council - General
Dates of engagement
March 2020
Type of attempted engagement
  • Participation in meeting on UN premises
Dates of mentioned reprisals
March 2020
Location of mentioned reprisals
Geneva
Reprisal information

During the High-level Segment and other sessions of the 43rd session in March 2020, officials made statements that some human rights defenders who support the Council’s attention to the situation in the Philippines are terrorists or are associated with, or supporting, terrorist groups, including the NGO Karapatan (see Annex II). In their statements, Government officials accused civil society actors of “masquerading as defenders of human rights,” of channelling “funding support (...) towards actors professing terrorism,” and serving “hidden agendas of deceit and violence on the ground.” 69

Types of reprisals suffered
  • Defamation / Defamation campaign
  • Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
Alleged/likely perpetrators
State actors
Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
No
Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
No
Government response dates
23 July 2020
Government response content

Government responded in detail to the note verbale in connection to the present report, drawing attention to the vibrant civil society in the country which is exploited by terrorist organizations purporting to be “human rights defenders”, who are able to access funding to serve violent agendas in communities on the ground. Regarding the alleged “red-tagging” of organizations as terrorist or communist, the Government stressed that OHCHR’s data gathering and analysis methodology needs to be more transparent and take into account the local political context. It noted that the long history of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF)’s exploitation and instrumentalization of human rights spaces is well-known and documented.

Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
No
Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
No
Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
No
How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
0