The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has lauded the creation by the regional office of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) of an inter-agency body which gives aftercare to former illegal drug users.
It was referring to DSWD’s Region X which created the Regional Technical Working Group (TWG) for the Implementation of Aftercare, Reintegration, and Transformation Support for Recovering Drug Dependents.
The TWG) has tapped the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Commission on Higher Education, Department of Education, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Department of Justice-Parole and Probation Administration, among other agencies, to employ "convergent efforts" to rehabilitate Recovering Persons Who Used Drugs (RPWUDs) in the region.
CHR Executive Director Jacqueline Ann de Guia said that the DSWD Region X's effort is "commendable" since it demonstrates a rights-based approach in tackling the illegal drug problem.
"CHR recognizes the DSWD-Region X's complementary efforts that focuses on rehabilitation and incorporates sustained support to truly restore the well-being of RPWUDs," De Guia, a lawyer, said.
"We hope that the TWG will also look into the socio-economic, health, and psychological issues surrounding this complex problem to ensure sustainable and long-term solutions for those affected by it and their communities,” she said.
She pointed out that the CHR has always advocated for a holistic strategy in dealing with the country's drug problem and stressed that it needs to be compliant with international human rights standards and prioritizes health, rehabilitation, and poverty alleviation issues.
In its report entitled "Rights during a Pandemic: The 2020 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in the Philippines," which was signed last June 30, the CHR noted with "grave concern" the continuous killings linked to the government's war on drugs.
From March 31 to May 31, 2020, data obtained by the CHR revealed that law enforcement agencies conducted 5,840 anti-drug enforcement operations, which resulted in the arrests of 10,105 suspects and the deaths of 67 persons.
Aside from the killings, the CHR documented other grave human rights violations such as torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests. "Arbitrary arrest cases were particularly worrying as some were combined with cruel forms of incarceration being in place," the report stated.
The CHR is hopeful that the DSWD's recent initiative will "propel the momentum" for policy shift in the government's anti-illegal drug campaign, De Guia said.