(Eagle News) — The Philippines, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, scored Iceland and several other mostly European countries after a joint statement that criticized the Philippine human rights situation.
The DFA , in a release, said these countries exhibited their “biased and unfounded criticism” of Manila’s human rights record.
Foreign Affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano also pointed out that these countries seemed to have believed the line of several human rights critics who had allegedly made a political tool out of human rights.
He said he had even personally extended his invitation to the foreign minister of Iceland so he could assess for himself the human rights situation in the Philippines.
But Iceland, he said, seemed not to be interested in the invitation.
“We regret that Iceland and several other countries maintained their position despite our offer for them to visit the Philippines and objectively assess the human rights situation, especially at the community level,” Cayetano said in a statement on Sunday from New York.
Cayetano, who is presiding over a command conference for Filipino diplomats from the Americas, said he personally invited Iceland Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson to visit Manila so he can check allegations by other parties regarding the alleged human rights violations in the country.
“Unfortunately, it seems our friends are really not interested in arriving at the truth and would rather rely on the misinformation being fed to them by parties that have politicized and weaponized human rights,” the Philippine foreign affairs chief said.
“Politics is politics but politicizing human rights endangers lives,” Cayetano said in the statement.
This was issued after Iceland and several other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Finland, again criticized the Philippines at the general debate of the 38th Session of the Human Rights Council.
The 38 nations– Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States, which only recently said it would pull out from the UNHRC because of its bias and anti-Israel stance– also called on the Philippines “to provide and guarantee a safe and secure environment for all, including journalists and Human Rights defenders.”
According to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Iceland led 10 other members of the Council in signing the joint statement against the Philippines.
“This is a minority in the 47-member Human Rights Council,” claimed Philippine Permanent Representative Evan Garcia in a statement released by the DFA.
“The Philippines remains a responsible member of this august body. We are respectful of our international human rights obligations. We remain a free, dynamic and democratic society. There is no basis, therefore, for the Council to be concerned with the situation in the Philippines,” Ambassador Garcia said in response to the joint statement against the Philippines.
Garcia responded to the criticism by pointing to the rising xenophobia and anti-migrant sentiments in parts of Europe and elsewhere, including some of the countries that spoke against the Philippines, stated a DFA release.
It said that In exercising Manila’s right of reply during the general debate, Ambassador Garcia cited numerous reports of exploitation of migrants under conditions of great vulnerability.
“We are shocked by the persistent abusive and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, whether legal or otherwise, their lack of inclusion in society and their oftentimes woefully limited access to all kinds of services,” the Philippine Ambassador said in response to the joint statement.
“We remind countries that have such severe shortcomings, including the United Kingdom and Australia, that the Philippines has preferred to engage with them in a positive manner, whether bilaterally or multilaterally” Ambassador Garcia said, citing as examples the Global Forum for Migration and Development and in the ongoing negotiations for the Global Compact on Migration.
“This is in stark contrast with the needlessly confrontational attitude they have taken in [the Human Rights] Council,” Ambassador Garcia added.
The Filipino envoy also noted that developing countries are hosting 80 percent of the world’s refugees today. “It is a shame for developed countries to keep their eyes shut to this growing concern,” he said.
“The Philippines, a developing country even with its more than 100 million population, has been doing its small part in sharing the global burden of the protection of refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons and other persons of concern,” Ambassador Garcia pointed out.
(with a DFA release)
