HUMAN rights group Karapatan have filed complaints before the United Nations Special Rapporteurs against President Rodrigo Duterte on what it called as cases of threat, harassment and intimidation, particularly the red-tagging and terrorist-labelling of organizations, in line with the Duterte government’s counter insurgency program late last week.
On April 5, Karapatan sent complaints to UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Michel Forst, UN SR on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Mr. Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, and UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour.
In the complaints filed, Karapatan said that under the Duterte government, there is a surge in the violations on the right to freedom of association and of human rights defenders, including reprisals on those who engage with UN human rights mechanisms.
Karapatan cited defamatory propaganda materials circulated in public places and even online, most recently in December 2018 and February 2019. The letter also emphasized the systematic red-tagging of the Duterte government through the issuance of Executive Order No. 70 last Dec. 4, which created a National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF).
“The recent circus tour of the NTF in diplomatic missions in Europe is a mere frantic attempt by the Duterte government to discredit organizations such as Karapatan, Ibon and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines which are exposing the issues and crimes that this regime wants buried. This cycle of red-tagging has serious implications, particularly with human rights defenders on the ground,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay. (karapatan)
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