Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s newly-created “super body” will not succeed in addressing the human rights issues in the country because it will be composed of agencies that contributed to the problem.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, May 21, civil society organizations said that “the most fundamental defect of the Special Committee on Human Rights Coordination is its composition. These agencies not only failed to address the many human rights issues relating to the brutal ‘war on drugs’ and suppression of freedoms and dissent but are, in fact, part of the problem,” the groups said.
Instead of hiding behind the super body, the civil society organizations urged the Marcos administration to be more intentional and do concrete actions against impunity. These include cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC), categorically ending the drug war by revoking official issuances made by Duterte, and stopping red-tagging as state policy.
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