Duterte signs EO providing protection for refugees

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has signed an executive order institutionalizing efforts to protect refugees, stateless persons, and asylum seekers to comply with the Philippines' obligations under international agreements.

Executive Order No. 163 signed by Duterte last February 28 noted that the Philippines is a state party to the 1951 United Nations (UN) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the 1954 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and the 1962 COnvention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

The Philippine Immigration Act of 1940 recognizes the admission of immigrants without nationality and grants the president the power to admit aliens who are refugees for religious, political, or racial reasons for humanitarian reasons and when not opposed to public interest, the order said. The development of a legal framework that will protect asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless persons is also one of the objectives of the updated Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, it added.  

Duterte said the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to integrate policies that seek to protect refugees, stateless persons and asylum seekers, whom he collectively referred to in the order as "persons of concern."  

"The COVID-19 pandemic has limited the ability of refugees, stateless persons and asylum seekers to cross borders to seek protection, bringing to fore the need to integrate and institutionalize relevant policies and programs of government agencies and ensure that these communities are properly protected and accorded the widest possible exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms," he said in the order.

The order was signed as the world braces for the impact of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which has left more than 100 people dead, according to recent reports. The United Nations has said as much as four million people may try to leave Ukraine because of Russia's invasion.

Duterte said the minimum standards for the treatment of refugees shall be followed including the giving of access to socioeconomic services, social security benefits, gainful employment and humane working conditions, education, participation in judicial and administrative citizenship proceedings, legal assistance, and access to courts, and freedom of religion.

The order defined asylum seeker as a person who has submitted an application or a formal written claim to a refugee or stateless status. Refugees, meanwhile, were defined as persons, who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted due to race, religion, nationality, and membership in a particular social group or political opinion, are outside the country of their nationality and are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country. A stateless person, meanwhile, was defined as someone who is not considered a national by any state under the operation of its domestic law.

The order institutionalized the Inter-Agency Committee on the Protection of Refugees, Stateless Persons and Asylum Seekers, a body tasked to ensure that relevant services and assistance are given to persons of concern.

The justice secretary will serve as the chairman of the committee while the social welfare secretary will be its vice chairman.

The committee will be composed of the secretaries of foreign affairs, education, labor, health, trade, interior and transportation, the national statistician, the civil registrar general, the chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, the director-generals of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the general managers  of the Manila International Airport Authority and the National Housing Authority, the immigration commissioner, the chief attorney of the Public Attorney's Office, the chairpersons of the Professional Regulation Commission and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and the president of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.

The committee was tasked to ensure that policies on the protection of, and the services and assistance offered to persons of concern are consistent with relevant laws and regulations. It was also directed to improve access of persons of concerns to courts, documentation, health and welfare assistance, primary education, skills training and livelihood programs.

The committee was also directed to establish an integrated coordination and referral system of requests for protection services and assistance to persons of concerns, and enhance the existing database of asylum seekers, stateless persons, and refugees to ensure efficient monitoring. It was also instructed to cooperate with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or any other relevant international body in effectively implementing the agreements designed to protect refugees.

Duterte also encouraged local governments to support the integration of persons of concern within their communities, conduct information and awareness campaigns, and make available the necessary programs and services to facilitate the integration.