Philippines-EU forge justice support accord

TOP government officials in the from of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blan-caflor, joined European Union Ambassador Alistair MacDonald to launch the EU-Philippine Justice Support Programme (EPJUST). Also participating were Detlev Mehlis, the team-leader of the EPJUST program, and Bo Åström, the program’s police advisor.

In a short ceremony at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador MacDonald said “The launching of the EPJUST underlines the willingness of the Philippines and the European Union to work together, even in sensitive areas such as governance, and this reflects the true spirit of partnership which we have built up over the years.” The Ambassador added that during the fourth round of negotiations on the proposed Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (in Manila on 4 to 5 February), the parties were already able to point to the EPJUST program as one very positive signal of our cooperation.

Ambassador MacDonald went on to express the hope that the EPJUST program would help all stakeholders in the Philippines—in government, in the judiciary and in the Commission on Human Rights, and in civil society—to work together to address the critical issue of extra-legal killings and enforced disappearances.

“This issue has brought grief to many families here over the years,” the Ambassador said, “and has risked sullying the country’s reputation internationally, as well as working to diminish the voice of the Philippines in the field of human rights—a voice for democracy which otherwise has been strong and consistent since 1986.”

“The EU very much appreciated President Macapagal-Arroyo’s invitation to provide technical assistance to help address this issue,” the ambassador said, “and we very much look forward to working through the EPJUST program to help Philippine society as a whole address and resolve these issues.”

Under the financing agreement for the EPJUST program signed in October 2009, the EU has committed the amount of +3.9 million (approximately P 250 million) to cover the cost of technical assistance services, advice and training, intended to strengthen the criminal justice system (investigation, prosecution, and judiciary), to support the Commission on Human Rights as well as civil society groups working in this area, to enhance human rights awareness among the uniformed services, and to establish a credible and effective National Monitoring Mechanism, which will bring together all Philippine stakeholders to help track the nation’s progress in addressing this issue.

The inception phase of the program commenced already in late November, with the arrival of the first experts. Following approval of the project work plan by the Steering Committee, full project implementation will be carried forward through till April 2011.

The program will be implemented by a core team of senior European experts, working closely with all the Philippine stakeholders. The EPJUST team is led by Detlev Mehlis, senior prosecutor and head of section in the Office of the Superior Prosecutor in Berlin. The two other key experts are Bo Åström, Head of the International Affairs Division in the Swedish National Police Academy, and Benedetta Odorisio, an Italian expert with extensive working experience with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Mehlis and Åström took up their duties in November/December 2009, while Odorisio will arrive at the end of this month.) In addition, a number of short-term European expert inputs will be made to assist in different aspects of the program. –RANDOM JOTTINGS, Manila Times

rjottings@yahoo.com