PH rejects US human rights report, demands “details”
India too protests US claim, points to US’ own HR record
THE Philippine government firmly rejected the report of the US State Department on the country’s human rights record, with Presidential Communications and Palace spokesman, Secretary Martin Andanar, on Saturday, April 16, 2022, branding it as “utterly devoid of bases” and a product of America’s “infirmed intelligence gathering.”
In a rare display of anti-American sentiment, Department of National Defense (DND) secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, also brushed aside the report in a statement issued a day before, April 15, 2022.
“We question the US State Department’s report of abuses by security forces. We challenge it to provide us with details so our Commission on Human Rights, a constitutional and independent body, can verify them, and if proven accurate, the perpetrators will be punished,” Lorenzana said.
“Absent these data the accusations are nothing but innuendos and witch hunt. At worst, the State Department has become a gullible victim of black propaganda,” the defense chief added.
Lorenzana noted that the report accusing the AFP of abuses runs contrary to the release of the ‘Pahayag’ first quarter survey of Publicus Asia held between March 30 to April 6, 2022, showing the military’s record-high approval and trust ratings.
According the survey, the Armed Forces leads 10 government agencies in both public approval and trust ratings at 67.4 percent and 53.4 percent respectively.
“The AFP was voted as one of the most trusted agencies of the government recently. Surely it did not earn this by abusing, torturing, and killing people,” Lorenzana pointed out.
Andanar, for his part, chided the United States, saying: “The United States has once again displayed how infirmed its intelligence gathering is with its recent claim of ‘credible’ reports of human rights violations by the Philippine government in its State Department 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.”
“If at all, the reports are nothing but a rehash of old and recycled issues by the perennial detractors of the Duterte administration,” Andanar said.
He also advised the United States to first validate the reports it has been receiving, saying:
“We strongly suggest that the United States State Department validate reports that reach their office, triangulate the same with all other open and institutional sources, and put to work its political officers in the US embassy in the Philippines who can then properly verify the same with the Philippine government.”
India pushes back too on US claim
India, a close ally of the United States, also pushed back on the State Department’s report on alleged human rights abuses in India.
India’s Minister for External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, during a visit to the United States last week, said they, too, are “monitoring” human rights situation in other countries, including in the United States.
He noted that the State Department’s human rights report came on the same day a gunman opened fire on rush-hour passengers in a Brooklyn subway that injured some 20 people.
Jaishankar also noted that two Indian nationals were recently beaten in the US for no other reason than because of their race.
Jaishankar also countered State secretary Anthony Blinken’s veiled threat of sanctions against India over the “trampling” of human rights in India and its close ties with Russia
Jaishankar said that while the imposition of sanctions is an “internal decision” of the United States, India would also take measures to “protect its own interest.”
The official also alluded to “lobby groups” in the United States that he believes are responsible for the crafting of US policies against other countries.
Similar to the Philippines, the US report, citing “credible” information, accused India’s security forces of committing a host of human rights violations, including unlawful and arbitrary killings, extrajudicial killings by the government or its agents;
Torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by police and prison officials;
Harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention by government authorities; political prisoners or detainees;
Arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, or unjustified arrests or prosecutions against journalists, use of criminal libel laws to prosecute social media speech; restrictions on internet freedom; overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operations of nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations, among others.
The US also accused India of “serious government corruption; government harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations” and “forced and compulsory labor, including child labor.
