Phl re-elected to UN Human Rights Council

Manila, Philippines - The Philippines was re-elected for a three-year term to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

The Philippine Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York reported to the DFA that the Philippines obtained the second highest number of votes in elections held at the 65^th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Friday.

The country obtained 182 votes, two votes behind Indonesia.

Geneva-based UN Watch, however, had questioned the membership of the Philippines in the UNHRC – along with Burkina Faso, India, and Indonesia – because of information provided by non-government organizations including Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House.

In its annual review of human rights practices worldwide, non-government group Human Rights Watch said the Philippine government engaged more in verbal assurance than action on human rights violations in the country.

In the World Report 2011, the group said the country’s law enforcement agencies and the justice system remain weak, while the military and police commit human rights violations with impunity.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said, however, that the country’s election into the council is a “clear indication of the appreciation and confidence of the international community in the significant gains in our human rights record.”

The elections held at the UN General Assembly hall was presided over by General Assembly President Joseph Deiss. The council meets in Geneva but elections are held in New York every May.

This is the third time that the Philippines has been elected to a seat in the HRC. It was first elected during the council’s inaugural session in 2006 and again for the 2007 to 2010 term.

“The Philippines is a vibrant democracy working very hard to further consolidate and strengthen the gains we have achieved in human rights, together with the rights which we fought for that led to the restoration of democracy at EDSA in 1986,” said Ambassador Libran Cabactulan, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

The UNHRC, which is made up of 47 UN member states, promotes the protection of human rights worldwide.

The council was established by the UN General Assembly on March 15, 2006 to recommend solutions to human rights violations.

Six countries that have never previously served on the United Nations Human Rights Council are among the 15 new members of the council.

Austria, Benin, Botswana, the Republic of Congo, Costa Rica and Kuwait will make their debut in the council next month, starting with three-year terms.

The other newly elected members are Burkina Faso, Chile, Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Italy, Peru, Philippines and Romania. These countries have completed stints since the creation of the council.