The UPR is a state-driven mechanism, which involves the review of the human rights records of all UN Member States under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. It serves as a venue for each State to declare what actions they have taken to fulfill their human rights obligations.
The UPR is a state-driven mechanism, which involves the review of the human rights records of all UN Member States under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. It serves as a venue for each State to declare what actions they have taken to fulfill their human rights obligations.
Civil society organizations however have many opportunities to engage in the UPR process by submitting information on the human rights situation in the country, by participating in the consultations initiated by CSO networks and government, by delivering oral statements during HRC sessions, by monitoring the implementation of UPR recommendations, and by continuing human rights advocacy.
Karapatan has engaged in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process at the United Nations Human Rights Council in the past three cycles since 2008 as a venue to assert people’s rights and to demand for the Philippine government’s compliance to its human rights obligations.
During the Duterte administration, there have been several calls for an independent investigation on the human rights situation in the Philippines, based on documented cases of gross rights violations in its anti-illegal drugs and counter-insurgency campaigns and the worrisome trend of “shrinking democratic and civic space” in the country.
Karapatan provided information and reports to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Assistant Secretary General, UN Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies, diplomatic missions and international human rights organizations. As co-convening organization of the Ecumenical Voice for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines and the Philippine UPR Watch, we also conducted public information, lobby and advocacy activities.
In the fourth cycle of the UPR of the Philippines, Karapatan provided two joint submissions, in collaboration with Civicus World Alliance for Citizen Participation, Tanggol Bayi (association of women human rights defenders), Desaparecidos (families and friends of the disappeared), Hustisya (families and friends of victims of extrajudicial killings, and the Samahan ng Ex-detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA, association of former political prisoners).
We are publishing these documents, along with Karapatan’s submissions to the OHCHR in 2019 and for the UPR process in 2008, 2012, and 2017, to inform various stakeholders on the human rights issues and recommendations in the upcoming UPR of the Philippines this year.
June 2022
You can read and download the full submission below or through this link: