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HRW slams Philippines solidarity with SL

Human Rights Watch's legal and policy director, James Ross, criticised the stance of The Philippines at the UNHRC on a resolution about accountability in Sri Lanka.

Writing in The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Ross said:

"The Philippine government has been winning international praise for enacting pro-rights legislation, including criminalizing enforced disappearances, providing reparations for martial law victims, and promoting reproductive rights. So it is baffling—and disturbing—that a democracy led by a president who himself was a victim of human rights abuse would side with Sri Lanka’s increasingly authoritarian government.

It’s little surprise that most of the countries voting against the Sri Lanka resolution were from Asia. Sri Lankan diplomats evidently played the “Asian solidarity” card to get their “no” votes and abstentions. One would have hoped that President Aquino’s administration would be beyond this transparently superficial approach to foreign affairs and would instead address these issues in a serious way.

Perhaps the Philippines had strong reasons for voting against the Human Rights Council resolution—but we’ll never know. Unlike Indonesia and Thailand, which at least gave lip service to the importance of accountability, the Philippines made no statement. Maybe the Aquino administration believes that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka is fine. Or that the world should not care to see justice done. Or, as during last year’s vote on Syria, the Philippine delegation just had more important things to do.

The Philippines could have made it clear that “Asian solidarity” means supporting the human rights of all Asians, including ordinary Sri Lankans who have been the victims of abuses—and not the anti-human rights agendas of repressive governments. Votes like this do a great disservice to the Philippines’ international reputation as a democracy born out of a populist human rights movement. Had it supported the resolution, the Philippines would have been endorsing values it believes in, even if it struggles to achieve them at home. And it could have put forward a claim to being a human rights leader among Asian countries. Maybe next year."

See here for full opinion.

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