Several international church organizations and institutions have supported the call for the UN Human Rights Council to “establish an on-the-ground independent, impartial investigation into human rights violations in the Philippines."
In a statement titled "Unity Statement for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights in the Philippines", the groups said as church people from around the world, they are responding to the call to stand with the Filipino people in light of the "deteriorating situation of civil liberties and human rights in the Philippines."
"We continue to raise the alarm on the disturbing proliferation of killings, human rights violations and attacks on civil liberties in the Philippines. We commit ourselves to bear witness in word and in deed, by advocating and educating about these commitments in our own countries, with our governments and diplomats, and in our agencies and work places," read the statement.
"We will aid in broadening international support for and solidarity with the Filipino people. Their call for the Philippine government to uphold human rights, provide reparations to victims of state abuses, seek peace, and enact justice are equally our call," it further read.
The groups particularly expressed alarmed by the passage into law of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which they said poses serious threats on civil liberties.
"This law runs counter to the Bill of Rights clearly enshrined in the Philippine Constitution and to obligations arising from international human rights instruments and mechanisms that Philippines has acceded to. This law practically legitimizes unlawful arrests and detentions, thereby undermining due process of law and equal protection of the law that are guaranteed by the Philippine Constitution," they said.
"Compounding the concern about this law are reports that retired military generals have been positioned within the civilian bureaucracy to wield this draconian law, instrumentalizing it to impinge on the exercise of free speech, thought, religious belief and association, as well as other civil and political rights," they added.
In their statement, the groups said the proliferation of extrajudicial killings, including the killing of thousands of people under a so-called "war on drugs", is reprehensible.
"We are concerned that a general climate of impunity has been synergized with the Philippine president's unabashed incitement to violence and regular calls for state forces to punish legitimate dissent by the citizenry," they said.
"We call for an end to these killings. We stand with the Filipino citizenry in denouncing state impunity and the wanton display of violence and brutality by state forces. We affirm that due process of law and the equal protection of the law are constitutive of a just and democratic governance and guarantees protections arising from both domestic and international laws that the Philippines have sworn to abide by," they added.
They said the continuing violations of human rights under COVID-19 pandemic quarantines in the Philippines accentuate the urgent need for intensified accompaniment and solidarity from Church formations and people of goodwill within and outside the Philippines.
A few of the present maneuvers to repress the Filipino people, they said, include the intimidation and trumped-up charges leveled against the political opposition, peoples organizations, journalists, government critics, peace advocates, and human rights defenders, the closure of a major media outfit; "red-tagging" of activists, including church people and churches attacks on indigenous communities and their schools; and threats to workers humanitarian aid groups and agencies.
"Therefore, in continuation of our historic commitment as faith-based bodies within the wider ecumenical community worldwide to peace, justice and the integrity of creation, we hereby join to keep watch and bear witness to the hopes and struggles of the Filipino people," the groups said.
Signatories to the Unity Statement, include ACT Alliance, Anglican Church of Canada, Christian Conference of Asia, Council for World Mission, General Board of Global Ministries – The United Methodist Church, Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ, International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, Kairos: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, National Council of Churches in Australia, National Council of Churches in Korea, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, Presbyterian Church USA, United Society Partners in the Gospel - UK, United Church of Canada, United Evangelical Mission, Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting World, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and World Student Christian Federation.