Probe women’s cases, UN agent told
A PRO-WOMEN’S party-list lawmaker on Thursday called on United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression Irene Khan to investigate cases of alleged “state-perpetrated” violence against women in the Philippines amid the lack of action in Congress.
“With the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and under the Anti-Terror Law, many women experience abuses and have been filed trumped-up cases,” Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene D. Brosas said in a statement.
She lamented that despite the submission of 33 resolutions before the House of Representatives during the 18th Congress, no progress has been made on inquiries into alleged rights violations of women human rights defenders and activists.
“It is alarming how the government has been wielding its power to silence women who are fighting for the rights of the people amid the lack of decent jobs, meager wages, lack of genuine land reform, and deteriorating human rights situation in the country,” Ms. Brosas said.
Party-list Rep. Raoul Danniel A. Manuel, also submitted a separate report to Ms. Khan calling for an investigation on the government’s alleged attacks against student groups.
Human rights group Karapatan reported that there are 795 political prisoners in the country with 84 arrested under the Marcos administration as of November last year. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz