As we mark the 4th year in detention of Senator Leila de Lima, the Commission on Human Rights continues to stress the Constitutional rights of the Senator, as well as all other persons deprived of liberty, to due process, presumption of innocence, and the right to a speedy, impartial, and public trial.

We continue to remind the government that detention and imprisonment do not diminish the government’s obligation to respect human rights and dignity.

The Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners assert that “[e]xcept for those limitations that are demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration, all prisoners shall retain the human rights and fundamental freedoms set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and, where the State concerned is a party, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol thereto, as well as such other rights as are set out in other United Nations covenants.”

As for Senator de Lima, we hope that the government unequivocally upholds the equal application of these rights, despite the Senator being one of the strongest voices of opposition. We expect that, as the Philippine Government pledges greater and better adherence to human rights standards, the same commitment applies to Senator de Lima and all those allegedly being targeted using the legal system for being staunch critics of the government.

It is our hope that the justice system continues to tilt the balance in favour of what is just, right, and humane. Every prolonged day that an innocent person remains in detention is an affront to human rights. Every human rights standard that is not upheld pulls us away from the full respect for human dignity. In all aspects of governance, we urge the government to use human rights as its guide. ###