BY CZERIZA VALENCIA

THE Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Council yesterday said the Philippines should not be onion-skinned on foreign interference in human rights violation cases because it is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Commission on Human Rights has cautioned civil society groups against taking the issue of extra-judicial killings before the international community, saying the country should be allowed ‘to solve its own problem" without "interference" from foreign governments.

The caution followed a guilty verdict issued by the Permanent People’s Tribunal based in The Hague, on allegations of crimes against humanity by the Arroyo administration.

AHRC said as a member of two main organs of the United Nations, the UNHRC and the Economic and Social Council, the Philippines is a "legitimate object of scrutiny regarding its human rights record."

"A country who claims to uphold the promotion and protection of human rights domestically must prove it before the international community. Otherwise, it has no credibility or moral authority to sit as a member of these two UN councils, which involves the power to examine the human rights records of other UN member states," it said.

"If it cannot tolerate constructive criticism, it should reconsider its membership on these councils," it added.

The group said the CHR should understand that foreign governments observe proper diplomatic protocol in conducting hearings.

"People’s tribunals, the results of fact-finding missions, and continuing international campaigns against abysmal human rights conditions in the Philippines are unlikely to be the sole basis for foreign governments to conclude that the Philippine government is not solving nor stopping these killings," it said.

"The CHR should reflect on why, despite numerous recommendations, the creation of special prosecutors and courts and the strengthening of witness protection, among other measures, the extrajudicial killings and other horrendous forms of human rights abuse continue unabated," it added.

AHRC argued that human rights dialogue in the Philippines, "where even a simple discussion of human rights is enough for people or groups to be labeled ‘enemies of the state’ or ‘terrorists,’" and where witnesses and investigators "fear for their safety," is impossible.

"There are instances where simple activities cannot be done inside the country, and thus, other groups or members of civil society are forced to undertake actions abroad to gain international attention for the human rights problems presently plaguing the Philippines. This dialogue is the legitimate free exercise of democratic freedom, and for the commission to discourage and downplay such symbolic activities does not reflect well on it nor does it uphold its mandate," the group said.

The group said it was "disturbing" that after the Melo Commission and UN special rapporteur Philip Alston released their reports, government still is not acting on the recommendations.

"The problem is not the absence of solutions but of implementing every single recommendation to solve the problem effectively. Creating a commission and inviting a UN special reporter to investigate the country’s extrajudicial killings are meaningless unless their findings are taken seriously and acted upon," the group said.

Alston, on Monday night, read his preliminary note before the ongoing fourth session of the UNHRC in Geneva, Switzerland.