Today, 10 October 2021, we observe the 19th World Day Against Death Penalty. This year’s observance focuses on the plight of women who risk being sentenced to death, those who are already in the death row, those who were pardoned or whose sentences were commuted. Likewise, we continue to call for the abolition of death penalty across the world even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the problems that women face are sexual harassment while in prison, torture, lack of sufficient prison facilities, violation of fair trial, and lack of access to lawyers, and a good number of death penalty cases involving women stems from drug-related offenses. Women are at a disproportionate risk of being sentenced to death considering that the number of female drug offenders being incarcerated have increased globally, and the number of women being jailed for non-violent drug offenses is considerably higher than men.[1]

Many drug trafficking cases are linked to labor migration, with drug traffickers using migrant workers as drug mules. This is not something new in the Southeast Asian region. Considering the high numbers of females who seek overseas work, especially domestic work, women are vulnerable to being tricked and trapped into trafficking and drug-related offenses. Mary Jane Veloso was placed in the death row after being arrested for smuggling prohibited drugs to Indonesia. Veloso maintains that her recruiters tricked her into bringing a suitcase containing illegal drugs into the country. While a last-minute reprieve stayed Veloso’s execution in 2015, there are claims of violations of her right to a fair trial in the course of the case.

It is worth noting that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, death sentences continue to be handed down even if the trial was conducted online. The delivery of a death sentence using online platforms has been described as inhumane by human rights groups, considering the impersonal remoteness of these platforms. The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines joins the worldwide anti-death penalty movement in saying that death penalty, whether delivered online or not, is inherently abhorrent and is a violation of the right to life.

While discussions about the reinstatement of capital punishment in the Philippines has been relatively silent, the current administration’s protracted war on drugs has caused the death of thousands. [2] As a result of the war on drugs, women whose husbands fell victims to the killings become doubly burdened as they are now left to raise their children alone.

The Commission thus welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court’s pre-trial chamber authorizing the Office of the Prosecutor to open an official investigation into crimes against humanity allegedly committed in relation to the war on drugs. We commit full cooperation and assistance as the ICC begins its processes.

The UN Human Rights Council on 8 October 2021 adopted a resolution on the question of the death penalty. While members of the Council could have taken a stronger position of calling for the abolition of capital punishment in all countries, it is still a very welcome document in that it tackles the human rights standards that all States, particularly retentionist countries, must adhere to in the imposition and application of this form of punishment. These standards include transparency and accessibility of reliable information, as well as the right of detained foreign nationals to consular notification. The document also seeks to continue the discourse at the level of the UN Secretary-General and at the Council’s fifty-second session in 2023.

As a national human rights institution, the Commission looks forward to engaging in these spaces of open collaboration. We regret that the Philippine government, as a member of the Council, abstained from voting during the consideration of this resolution. As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Second Optional Protocol, the Philippines is expected to be guided by these treaties when taking a position in any international for a. Even though the operative paragraphs of the resolution do not directly apply to the Philippines, as an abolitionist country, the standards set out in the resolution still apply to Filipinos in death row in other countries.

Any act that deliberately ends the life of a person is inherently wrong. As we mark this year’s World Day Against Death Penalty, the Commission remains steadfast in its resolve and renews its commitment to defend the sanctity of the right to life.

[1] University of Oxford Faculty of Law, International Women’s Day 2021: Women, Drug Trafficking & The Death Penalty in Southeast Asia, 8 March 2021, available at https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/centres-institutes/centre-criminology/blog/2021/03/international-womens-day-2021-women-drug  (last accessed 10 October 2021); Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, Advisory on the Increased Vulnerability of Women Migrant Workers on Death Row, 10 September 2021, available at: https://chr.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Human-Rights-Advisory-Increased-Vulnerability-of-Women-Migrant-Workers-on-Death-Row-CHR-V-A2021-005.pdf  (last accessed 10 October 2021).

[2] Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, “Rights during a Pandemic: The 2020 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines,” June 2021, available at: https://chr.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CHR-V-No.POL2021-006-The-2020-Annual-Report-on-the-Human-Rights-Situation-in-the-Philippines.pdf (last accessed 10 October 2021).