Tuesday 12 September 2017

Agnes Callamard slams Phil Congress decision to give CHR a P1,000 budget


Agnes is back!!!

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions Agnes Callamard makes herself known again via her favorite platform- Twitter.

After the historic 119-32 vote of the members of the House of Representatives by giving the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) a budget of P1,000 for the next year, she takes her comments again via she social media platform that is Twitter. *


United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions Agnes Callamard (photo credit to RMN)
The budget is the reaction of the lawmakers for CHR’s consistent criticisms of the President Duterte’s Administrations brutal war on drugs. 119 lawmakers voted in favor of the move to reduced the budget of CHR to P1,000 from the Department of Budget proposed P678 million. Only 32 lawmakers voted against the motion.

“Reprehensible and unconscionable: Philippines Congress slash annual budget of Commission for Human Rights to 20 USD”

This was her twit following last night closing of the budget deliberations in the House of Representatives for the fiscal year of 2018.

CHR Chairman Chito Gascon was deeply saddened by the budget cut, saying Congress' move was a "whimsical & capricious display of vindictiveness."

"We had hoped that both the Speaker & the House Majority would have been persuaded by reason & necessity to allocate an adequate budget to CHR in order for us to effectively perform our constitutional mandate as an independent office to protect human rights," he said.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez made a strong statement regarding CHR’s role in the country today, during an interview in CNN he said that:

"Hindi nila ginagawa yung trabaho nila. Yung mandato nila under the Constitution, hindi nila ginagawa. Ano yun? Para protektahan yung karapatang pantao ng lahat ng tao, hindi lang noong mga kriminal," *

"Kapag mayroong mga victims na hindi ano…itong mga victims mismo ng human rights, ayaw nilang magsalita, wala man lang silang programa para doon sa mga biktima. Pero kapag yung rights ng mga kriminal, ay maingay sila," said Alvarez.

United Nations Special Rapporteur  Agnes Callamard has been critical and outspoken of extra-judicial killings under the Duterte administration.

Report from abs-cbn website
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