UN noted 70% drop in killings – RP mission

MANILA, Philippines—United Nations Special Rapporteur Philip Alston has noted a 70-percent decrease in the number of unexplained killings in the Philippines, according to the Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva.

In a dispatch to the Department of Foreign Affairs Thursday, the mission said Alston made the oral statement in his follow-up report to the 11th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Switzerland on May 3.

Alston had been critical of the country’s human rights record, prompting the government to issue repeated rebuttals to his reports to the UN.

During the session, Alston stressed that the Philippine Human Rights Commission has been reinvigorated and that a major and “highly credible” investigation of the alleged death squads in Davao has been opened.

“The government continues to announce new initiatives designed to reduce the number of killings and identify those responsible,” the mission quoted Alston as saying.

The mission submitted to the HRC a detailed written response to Alston’s follow-up report. The response was prepared by the Philippine Human Rights Committee.

During the interactive dialogue in the HRC, the Philippine delegation shared news reports validating that the New People’s Army was behind a number of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

The Philippine delegation said that such proof was “indicative of the consistent pattern of deception used by rebel groups where the armed wing conducts extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and other violations of humanitarian law, while the political arm puts the blame on the government.”

Aside from the follow-up report on the Philippines, Alston presented a number of reports, including those on his visits to other countries.–Cynthia Balana, Philippine Daily Inquirer