‘Significant human rights abuses committed by and for govt’

THE United States says it has received “credible information” showing that significant human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, have been made “by and on behalf” of the government, and that the Philippine National Police is “largely ineffective” in cleansing its ranks.

In its 2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, the US Department of State said it received “credible reports that members of the security forces committed numerous abuses”.

It said these issues included “unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings, by and on behalf of the government and non-state actors; reports of forced disappearance by and on behalf of the government and non-state actors; torture by and on behalf of the government and non-state actors; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; (and) arbitrary detention by and on behalf of the government and non-state actors”.“The government investigated a limited number of reported human rights abuses, including abuses by its own forces, paramilitary forces, and insurgent and terrorist groups. Concerns about police impunity continued following the increase in killings by police in 2016.

“Significant concerns also persisted about impunity for other security forces, civilian national and local government officials, and powerful business and commercial figures,” the United States said.

It also cited problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary and unlawful interference with privacy; serious abuses in a conflict; serious restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, and unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists, censorship and the use of criminal libel laws to punish journalists, among others. — Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN