The Commission reiterates its acknowledgement of the national government for extending an invitation to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography, and other child sexual abuse material, Ms. Mama Fatima Singhateh, and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion, Ms. Irene Khan.
It will be recalled that the invitation was announced by the then Justice Secretary, Mr. Menardo Guevarra, during his speech at the 49th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in February this year. Mr. Guevarra explained that the country visits will be planned and implemented within the scope of the Philippines-United Nations Joint Program on technical cooperation for the protection and promotion of human rights.[1]
Following this invitation, Ms. Singhateh will conduct a country visit to the Philippines from 28 November to 8 December 2022 “to assess the situation and the progress made in combating and preventing the sale and sexual exploitation of children in the light of international human rights norms and standards.” More information on Ms. Singhateh’s visit is available here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2022/call-inputs-upcoming-country-visit-republic-philippines
Ms. Khan is set to visit the country in 2023. More information on Ms. Khan’s visit is expected to be made available in the coming months.
Special Rapporteurs are part of the special procedures mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council. They are independent experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights. Special Rapporteurs with thematic mandates, such as Ms. Singhateh and Ms. Khan, undertake country visits to assess the general situation of human rights at the national level. During these visits, they meet with national and local authorities, including the national government and members of the judiciary, as well as other stakeholders, including civil society organizations and victims of human rights violations. These visits result in the publication of findings, conclusions, and recommendations which aim to improve the realization of human rights on the ground.
The Commission emphasizes the important contribution of Special Rapporteurs in the international human rights protection mechanism. As independent experts, they are expected and have been proven to act with probity and constant regard to human rights principles and standards. Their standing at the international level gives them the capacity to look at country situations with a fresh and unprejudiced eye. As such, their findings, conclusions, and recommendations offer competent, objective, constructive, and specific advice to government actors on how to implement voluntarily undertaken human rights obligations, as well as emerging norms for the universal respect of all human rights.
The Commission will actively take part in and contribute inputs to the Special Rapporteurs, based on information collected from our regional presences and the Protection and Policy clusters at the CHR headquarters.
Finally, we call on the national government to recognize the competence of special procedures mandate-holders by issuing a standing invitation to them to visit the country and conduct independent assessments of the human rights situation on the ground. We reiterate this recommendation, which was also raised by several countries during the third cycle Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines in 2017.
[1] Manila Bulletin, 1 March 2022, “PH invites 2 UN special rapporteurs on children, freedom of expression”