HRW: Death penalty will cement Philippines' reputation as 'int'l human rights pariah'
MANILA, Philippines — Reinstating the state-sanctioned killing of convicts will risk international condemnation and push the Philippines deeper into a “rights-violating abyss,” Human Rights Watch said Thursday.
In a statement, HRW researcher Carlos Conde stressed that death penalty is “inherently cruel and irreversible.”
President Rodrigo Duterte renewed his call to reimpose capital punishment by lethal injections for drug crimes during his fifth State of the Nation Address while the country is struggling to contain the coronavirus crisis that has so far infected nearly 116,000 people.
Conde said that death penalty will mean “spilling more blood” in the name of the internationally-condemned war on drugs, which resulted in the deaths of thousands at the hands of the police and unidentified gunmen.
“It will lead the Philippines to descend further into a rights-violating abyss. And the government will lose credibility and leverage to negotiate on behalf of Filipinos who face execution abroad,” he said.
Conde added the proposed execution of convicts will violate the country’s obligations under international human rights law such as the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which permanently prohibits the imposition of death penalty, and which the Philippines ratified in 2007.
“Along with the Philippines’ withdrawal from the International Criminal Court in March 2019 and its human rights disinformation campaign at the United Nations Human Rights Council, reimposing the death penalty would only serve to further cement the country’s growing reputation as an international human rights pariah,” he said.
The House justice committee tackled Wednesday at least 12 bills seeking the restoration of death penalty.
Archdiocese of Manila’s clergy objects reimposition of death penalty
The Clergy of the Archdiocese of Manila said it is both “alarmed and disturbed” at the ease at which lawmakers responded to the president’s call for the restoration of death penalty.
“While we agree that it is the duty of Legislators to enact laws and State policies, we condemn the lack of independence and imprudence of some of them who decided to immediately bow to the wishes of President Rodrigo Duterte by filing death penalty bills while we are still mired in this seemingly insurmountable crisis brought by COVID-19,” the religious leaders said.
“We see such acts as the betrayal of the people’s interests and an implicit support to the creeping authoritarian tendencies exuded by this administration,” they added.
The religious leaders stressed that death penalty is “biased and unfair” and an “unjustified form of retribution.”
“We believe that only God has the right to take life away from us. Hence, we condemn criminals who took the lives of their victims and they must be punished for it. Punishment, however, should not anymore include death because there are other means already available to punish criminals and to protect society from them,” they said.
The country’s flawed justice system is enough reason to oppose death penalty, they said as they called on government officials to establish a system of justice that brings restoration and harmony.
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