An international human rights coalition has condemned as “more institutionalized, orchestrated, and entrenched" human rights violations in the Philippines.

Investigate PH, in its report to the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR), said that the Philippines’ response to human rights violations is “insufficient and even illusory.”

It said its report examined 49 illustrative cases of human rights violations that occurred sometime between 2020 and 2021.

“With the drug war, the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the July 2020 passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), and the Philippine government’s militarized response to COVID-19, the perpetration of human rights violations by state forces has become more institutionalized, orchestrated, and entrenched," it said.

Investigative PH Commissioner Jeanne Mirer said their findings were a "damning indictment" of the country's human rights crisis. "Not only that. We found out that domestic remedies are ineffective at providing redress for the victims,” she said.

The report stated that "domestic remedies" set up by the government are a failure because “state authorities themselves obstruct justice.”

The group’s report also said that investigations carried out by the authorities are "not impartial," and mechanisms to hold the police and military accountable for human rights violations are "failing."

Sadly, the report said court protections are often "inaccessible, slow, and discriminatory" and  efforts to challenge unjust laws through legal channels are also being "dismissed in court or repressed."

At the same time, the report stated that the "counter-insurgency activities are targeting lawyers, denying victims access to independent counsel."

Even during times when remedies are obtained by victims, the report lamented that these are "inadequate justice."

"There is a grave power imbalance between victims of state violence, and perpetrators who have the backing of government apparatuses. As seen in the report’s findings, the structures to even redress this imbalance are lacking," commented fellow Commissioner and president of US-based National Lawyers Guild, Suzanne Adely.

Investigate PH said its second report will be released in July and the third and final report will follow in September.