THE German and French embassies in Manila urged the Philippines to uphold its human rights obligations and ratify the international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearances.
“This heinous practice of enforced disappearances must stop,” the embassies of German and France in the Philippines said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
They made the call on Tuesday on the occasion of the Human Rights Day 2024, as they commemorate the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Germany and France reiterated their “commitment to human rights and the protection of human rights defenders” in the Philippines.
On Dec. 10, 2023, both embassies launched the “Franco-German Human Rights Gathering” in the Philippines, as part of their commitment to human rights and the rule of law.
“Over the course of the year, we had three insightful discussions, where relevant actors in the field of human rights and justice met. The first gathering dealt with the topic of access to justice,” they said.
A panel of legal experts, government representatives, including a Supreme Court justice, and civil society organizations examined the shortcomings of the justice system and proposed concrete strategies to strengthen protection mechanisms for human rights defenders and for those victims of human rights violations.
For the second gathering, the topic of enforced disappearances was discussed, the embassies said.
In partnership with the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, members of the diplomatic community had a “heartfelt discussion with the families of victims of enforced disappearances,” they said.
“The last gathering of the year discussed the threats for human rights defenders posed by the weaponization of the law,” the embassies said.
A panel of legal experts discussed the “unfortunate practice of ‘lawfare’ to delegitimize environmental defenders, human rights defenders and NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), and to tie them in never-ending lawsuits,” the embassies said.
“Several NGOs shared their harrowing experience of judicial harassment,” they added.
The panel, together with the diplomatic community, decried the practice of red-tagging and lamented the use of terror financing laws to attack legitimate human rights organizations.
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