potential drug users so they “can get intervention while they are still
young.”
Imposing drug testing on schoolchildren when Philippine police are
summarily killing alleged drug users endangers children should they
fail such a drug test. Mandatory testing may also violate children’s
right to bodily integrity, constitute arbitrary interference with their
privacy and dignity, and may deter children from attending school for
reasons unrelated to any potential drug use.
Police have killed dozens of children since the start of the “war on
drugs” in June 2016, deaths which Duterte has dismissed as “collateral
damage.” In February, police arrested three police officers implicated
in the execution-style summary killing of 17-year-old Kian Lloyd delos
Santos in August 2017.
Attacks on Journalists
The Duterte administration ratcheted up its attack on media freedom
in January 2018 by threatening the closure of Rappler.com, an online
news outlet critical of the “war on drugs.” In November, the
Department of Justice indicted Rappler and its editor and founder,
Maria Ressa, for tax evasion. This followed months of attacks and
harassment of Rappler by the Duterte government and its supporters.
New draft regulations by the Philippine House of Representatives in
May would allow Congress to ban reporters who “besmirch” the
reputation of lawmakers from covering the national legislature.
Journalists and some members of Congress have denounced the
proposed rule as dangerously ambiguous and stifling.
The killings of journalists continued in 2018, with six murdered by
unidentified gunmen in different parts of the country.
HIV Epidemic
The Philippines faces the fastest-growing epidemic of HIV in Asia.
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), the number of new HIV cases jumped from 4,400 in 2010
to 12,000 in 2017, the last year for which data were available. Most
new infections—up to 83 percent—are among men and transgender
women who have sex with men. There are now an estimated 68,000
Filipinos living with HIV.
This increase has been attributed to government policy failures to
respond to the epidemic. Human Rights Watch research shows that
many sexually active young Filipinos have little or no knowledge about
the role of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted diseases
because the government fails to promote condoms vigorously, among
other factors.
Human Rights Watch documented that workers and employees in
the Philippines living with HIV may suffer workplace discrimination
including refusal to hire, unlawful firing, and forced resignation of
people with HIV. Some employers may also disregard or actively
facilitate workplace harassment of employees who are HIV positive. In
February, Duterte suggested to a group of returning overseas migrant
workers that they avoid using condoms because they “aren’t
pleasurable.”
In October, the Senate and House of Representatives approved a bill
that would amend the country’s 20-year-old AIDS law. The new law
outlines a rights-based response to the epidemic and
prohibits discrimination against people with HIV in the workplace and
other settings. It also makes it unlawful to disclose the HIV status of
an individual without their consent. However, the law does not include
specific provisions directing the government to promote condom use.
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
The Philippine Supreme Court heard a long-awaited argument in June
that could open the door to same-sex marriage in the overwhelmingly
Catholic country. In May, the city of Mandaluyong approved an
ordinance to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) people—the latest in a slew of similar local
laws passed across the country.
The House of Representatives unanimously passed a federal
nondiscrimination bill protecting LGBT people in September 2017, but
opponents have stalled a companion bill in the Senate.
Representatives also introduced a bill that would create civil
partnerships and give same-sex couples rights in adoption, insurance,
inheritance, property, and medical decision-making.
Key International Actors
In January 2018, the European Commission expressed strong
concerns about the Philippines’ compliance with the human rights
obligations related to the trade preferences scheme from which it
benefits.
In February, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
announced that she would open a preliminary examination into the
“drug war” killings in the Philippines. The Duterte administration
responded by withdrawing from the Rome Statute, which takes effect
in one year. In April, the European Parliament adopted a resolution
calling on the Philippines to put an end to the drug war and ensure
accountability, and on the EU to use all available mean—including
suspending trade benefits if necessary—to persuade the Philippines to
reverse its abusive trend.
Asian governments have expressed implicit or explicit support for the
anti-drug campaign. The Indonesian government in
February awarded then-Philippine National Police Director-General
Ronald dela Rosa its highest honor, the Medal of Honor, for his “rock
star-like inspiration to the Indonesian national police and the
Indonesian people on how to fight the war on drugs.”
In May, the South Korean Embassy in Manila and the Korean Police
National Agency donated more than 130 vehicles to the Philippines
National Police despite its role in the “drug war” killings.
The US Congress regularly appropriates assistance to the Philippine
government, including substantial financing for arms sales as well as
funds for law enforcement and military training. Law enforcement
funding is restricted to drug user treatment projects and marine and
international interdiction programs. The US military also routinely
provides the Philippines military with second-hand military vehicles,
ships, and non-lethal equipment.
Iceland led a joint statement on behalf of 38 states at the June session
of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), building on two
previous joint statements, condemning the extrajudicial killings and
calling for “a more formal Council initiative” if needed to hold the
Philippines to its obligations as a member of the Council. It also called
for the Philippines to “cooperate with the international community” to
ensure investigations into these deaths. On October 12, the Philippines
was elected to serve a second three-year term on the UN HRC, starting
January 2019.
