"House passes bill protecting human rights defenders", 17 January 2022

The House of Representatives on Monday, January 17, passed a bill that seeks to protect and define the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders in the Philippines, who have been vilified and attacked under President Rodrigo Duterte.

A total of 200 legislators voted to approve House Bill No. 10576, the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act, on third and final reading. No one voted against or abstained on it.

The bill spells out 17 rights and freedoms to be enjoyed by human rights defenders, once passed into law. These include the freedom from intimidation and reprisal on the grounds of their work and also the right to communicate with organizations, including international and regional bodies...

The bill also highlighted the state obligations, adding that “public authorities shall take all necessary measures to ensure” that the rights and freedoms of defenders are guaranteed and protected, and that they work in “safe and enabling environment without restrictions,” among others.

The approved bill also seeks to establish a Human Rights Defenders Protection Committee, an “independent collegial body” composed of members nominated by civil society organizations and appointed by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)...

As of August 2021, rights group Karapatan had documented 421 incidents of killings since July 2016, while there were also 504 recorded cases of frustrated killings...

This is not the first time the House of Representatives gave its nod to a bill protecting human rights defenders. In June 2019, legislators already passed a similar bill but did not prosper as Senate did not pass a counterpart...