Code: DR 2-1
Committee:Human Rights Council – Universal Periodic Review
Topic:United Kingdom
Human Rights Council – Universal Periodic Review
The State under Review ACCEPTS
Endorses the integration of nonlethal weapons, such as tasers, tranquilizers, and stun guns, into Anti-Drug Special Task Forces. [1]
Advises the Congress of the Philippines to draft a standardized procedure for operations for arresting drug users as conducted by the Anti-Drug Special Task Forces in accordance to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and submit the procedure to the Amnesty International for discussion and amendments, [3]
Encourages the Philippine government to create lessons about how to abstain from substance abuse, to reduce drug usage in the country, these could be developed by the Philippine government and administered to lower income communities in the country. [4]
Advises the Philippines to draft a standardized procedure for the operations of “Help Teams” and submit the procedure to the council for approval, [7]
Recommends that the Philippines investigate police officers via the the Philippines Human Rights Commission each time they are responsible for the death of an unarmed individual during investigations connected to illegal narcotic substances or related paraphernalia. [9]
Calls for the Philippines to accept a screening by NGOs for large-scale corruption within the Philippine Government conditional on the promise that this screening respects the sovereignty of the government of the Philippines, and does not interfere with their ability to rule themselves, [11]
Recommends that the Philippines creates a committee led by government officials that oversees the police force and ensures training does not encourage conduct which violates any of the provisions under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and makes sure the police force, including the Anti-Drug Special Task Forces, will not take any actions that are considered unjust, [12]
Encourages the enforcement of the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012 by the Philippine government on a national scale, including the call for reintegration and support of victims and their families, [14]
Urges the Philippines to encourage the Philippine Human Rights Commission to establish human rights training for national police and armed forces regarding how to handle situations dealing with the prosecution and processing of individuals accused of crime. [15]
Recommends that police officers take the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which is designed to detect prejudice by looking at the strengths of a person’s automatic associatíon between different mental representations of objects, which helps determine prejudice and will subsequently lead to an investigation of these officers by regional legislatures as well as the Provincial Commissioner which could potentially result in an internal job relocation to a job where the officer in question’s personal opinion will not affect his/her performance in the field. [16]
Strongly urges the Philippines to ratify to the Convention on the Protections from Forced Disappearances and to accede to the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. [17]
Encourages the government of the Philippines to further increase funding for police training as recommended in clause 129.13 of A/HRC/21/12 in order to enforce international human rights standards. [19]
Calls upon the government of the Philippines to issue a public communique condemning extrajudicial killings. [20]
Requests that the Philippines provide due process to all illegal drug users, as guaranteed by Article III, Section I of the Philippine constitution and Articles 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, [21]
Calls upon the Philippines to establish educational programs on sexual violence such as the Multi-Sectoral Network Against Trafficking in Persons implemented by UNICEF, which will teach victims about their rights and educate citizens on the legal consequences of sexual offenses, [24]
Supports an increase in funding from the Philippine Health Organization for the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Programme (WASH) in order to increase its impact in rural communities. [26]
Encourages the Philippines to expand the use of the Strat Plan from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) which covers the four areas mentioned below, across all levels of government and military, including police officers, social workers, judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement, as well as hospitality workers like hotel managers, hotel security, and bus operators to increase aptitude in recognizing and preventing human trafficking:
(a)Prevention and Advocacy
(b)Protection, Rehabilitation, Reintegration
(c)Prosecution and Law Enforcement
(d)Partnership and Networking [27]
Recommends the Philippines requests funding from the World Bank, specifically in the form of Development Policy Financing, and uses it to further fund the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, with the specification that it is used to aid in their ongoing fight against people bringing drugs into the country illegally. [28]
Advises that the Philippine government release public service announcements and advertisements reminding women of their rights under the Magna Carta of Women’s rights and the Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004, andcalls upon the Philippine government to increase access to methods of reporting domestic abuse to the Philippine National Police Women and Children Protection Centre for the purpose of data collection and victim treatment. [31]
Encourages the Philippines to request funding from NGOs such as The Global Fund for Children, in order to provide government subsidies, in the form of monthly stipends, for impoverished families with children, so that they have the necessary funding to ensure their children basic human rights, without having to acquire income through child labor. [32]
Further requests that the Philippines creates global partnerships with foreign police institutions such as the Community Policing Partnership Project in Australia with the hopes of promoting current human rights standards in Philippines. [35]
The State under Review REVIEWS
Recommends that the government of the Philippines institutes a way for Filipino law enforcement to be held more accountable for their actions in the field through the creation of an independent investigative task force established and run by the Filipino government to periodically evaluate the actions of the Filipino police force and overseen by the UNHRC which would screen potential candidates for the force. [2]
Recommends the implementation of domestic legislature promoting and protecting freedom of speech and freedom of press by revising the Revised Penal Code by redefining libel in order to eliminate the criminalization of causing “dishonor, discredit, or contempt” to criminalize false information, hate speech, or intimidatory language, in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. [5]
Asks that the Government of the Philippines ensures the safety of journalists in areas subject to gang violence or other forms of organized crime, given that they report in good faith, and further asks that journalists be given access to all non-classified sectors and government records, regardless of the detriment or benefit to the Filipino government, [18]
Encourages the Philippines to create legislation that requires companies with a labor force greater than 500 people to provide a report, which includes proof of age for all the employees within their company to ensure that all employees are above the the appropriate legal working age for the profession of company in question. [23]
The State under Review REJECTS
Strongly encourages the government of the Philippines to return funds allocated to providing access to contraceptives, which were reappropriated in early 2016, to their original intended purpose designated by the previous presidential administration to fund government contraceptive distribution and education in order to provide ease of access for women in need of reproductive health care, prevent sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and prevent unplanned pregnancies. [29]
Recommends that the Filipino government increase accessibility to legal abortions, especially in major cities, in order to more effectively ensure the safety of women who have unplanned pregnancies, and provide an alternative to unsafe illegal clinics. [30]