Human Rights Council: 43rd Regular Session
Salle XX, Palais des Nations
04 March 2020
Agenda Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms
while countering terrorism
Speaking time: 1 min. 30 sec.
Thank you, Mister Vice-President.
The Philippines thanks the Special Rapporteur for her report on human rights impact of policies aimed at countering violent extremism. We note her caution against simplistic policies and her emphasis on the need for rights-affirming and rights-focused policies toward a durable solution to preventing violence.
We believe that the report would have been better informed by the actual experiences and challenges of states and communities as well as the individuals who have been deprived of their rights as they suffered the effects of all forms of violent extremism. Violent extremism is an issue with grave consequences if not properly addressed. Some of the concerns raised in the report that question current UN and international approaches to countering it, merit a more serious thought and debate, to ask in particular, if these concerns can hold their weight against realities on the ground.
We support the SR’s recommendation for States to address the broader conditions conducive to terrorism and violent extremism. Our experience as a country with the longest running communist armed insurgency spanning over 50 years imparts the lesson that a purely military approach will not resolve the issue. The creation of the National Task Force on Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict in 2018 stems from the recognition that any counter-terrorism and insurgency program should have a strong socio-economic orientation employing a whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach, based on concrete human rights and good governance agenda.
We want to emphasize our view that the development of our communities is not only in pursuit of the goal of “leaving no one behind” under the SDG agenda, it is crucial in making them resilient against risks of exploitation by terrorist groups in the country.
Madam Special Rapporteur, you have addressed in your report the need for due diligence policies within the UN system to ensure that practices on countering terrorism and extremism are compliant with international human rights law. However, do you also see the need for a similar due diligence review by the UN and international organizations to ensure that funding support are not channelled by organizations towards actors professing terrorism?
Thank you, Mister Vice-President. END.