THE Philippine government has invited a United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings to visit the country for a special dialogue and capacity building on human rights and disasters under the UN Joint Programme (UNJP).
During Monday’s news briefing on the outcome of the Philippine participation in the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHCR)’s regular Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held in Geneva, Switzerland last week, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla also said special rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children Mama Fatima Singhateh and special rapporteur on freedom of expression and media are also scheduled to visit the country early next year.
Remulla disclosed the government took the initiative of inviting into the country Dr. Morris Tidball-Binz, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings (EJK), summary or arbitrary killings.
Remulla said Dr. Tidball-Binz, a medical doctor from Chile specializes in forensic science and humanitarian action, welcomed the government’s invitation.
“We are hoping to engage them, invite them to the [Department of Justice] for a special dialogue on any issue that they want to bring up,” Remulla said.
He added that their visit would show that the government is open to suggestions that would improve the human rights situation in the country.
“So what they saw was a country open to suggestion, a country that does not deny that there are problems within the system but who is open to suggestions and open to improving whatever situation that is here,” Remulla explained.
“We don’t hide and say that’s not true. What we’re saying is that if there’s room for improvement we will take it on and I think that’s the attitude that is really healthy for international relations. It’s a caring gesture that they want to show us and we also reciprocate this caring gesture by being open to all of these suggestions to our country…. Basically we are on the right track and that the biases towards the Philippines have somehow fizzled,” he added.
Remulla said Dr. Tidball-Binz was invited to help in the capacity building for forensic pathologists in the country, considering that we only have two licensed and internationally accepted forensic pathologists—Drs. Raquel Fortun and Cecilia Lim.
Although the country has medico-legal experts, Remulla said they are “not the level of forensic pathologists.” Remulla stressed the need to train more forensic pathologists who can be tapped in processing bodies, particularly during calamities.
“Remember ‘Yolanda’ where there were thousands of bodies who had to be processed? Because of the diversity, because of the numerous deaths in Yolanda, international teams of forensic pathologists went here to help us and the special rapporteur was part of that,” the justice chief said.
Dr. Tidball-Binz, according to Remulla, welcomed the Philippine invitation, which was more of a follow-up on an agreed program under the UNJP for capacity building of the country’s forensic pathologists.
“If there are deaths and murders in the provinces, at least they can help us with the investigations. If our people are already trained, then we will have experts determining the results,” Remulla pointed out.