UNHRC refers De Lima’s case to 3 UN special rapporteurs

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has referred the case of detained Senator Leila de Lima to three special rapporteurs to investigate the violations committed against her.

The UN Working Group found sufficient grounds that her rights as duly-elected senator and human rights defender have been violated.

The referral is part of the five-point recommendation on a 13-page Opinion officially adopted by the UNHRC-WGAD during its 82nd session last Aug. 24 and published on Nov. 30.

The senator’s case was referred to the following investigators:

UN Special Rapporteur on promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers

David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, is tasked to look into the violations committed against De Lima for her “convictions and public statements regarding extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.”

“The Working Group expresses its serious concerns about the unfavorable remarks made publicly by the President and his allies against her after she expressed her intention to investigate the extrajudicial killings under the so-called war on drugs,” the Opinion stated.

Dubravka Simonovic, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, is tasked to look into the discrimination committed against the senator due to her political opinion and status as human rights defender and as a woman. 

“The Working Group expresses its particular concern at the sexist statements and attacks on her personal life by President Duterte and his political allies that cast serious doubt on the government’s solemn undertaking to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights,” the Opinion said.

“The Working Group thus considers that Ms. De Lima has also been targeted and the subject of attacks and discriminatory language due to her gender,” it added.

Mindful of the illegal ouster of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Diego García-Sayán, is tasked to look into violations of De Lima’s rights to a fair trial.

“The Working Group concludes that the violations of Ms. De Lima’s rights to a fair trial are of such gravity as to render her deprivation of liberty arbitrary,” the Opinion stated.

The Working Group has also asked the Philippine government to immediately free De Lima from detention and accord her an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations. 

De Lima has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame since February 24, 2017 over her alleged involvement in the proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prison.

She has countered the allegations as trumped up charges against her stance on the Duterte administration’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs. —VDS, GMA News