Filipino human rights groups delivered an alternative presentation at the 59th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the second week of June, where they revealed the real situation of human rights in the country. At the same time, Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, presented the final report on the results of her investigation in the Philippines last year.

Their reports documented the worsening state of human rights, particularly the prevalence of a culture of impunity, Red-tagging, attacks on journalists, and state repression.

In the report by Special Rapporteur Irene Khan, she highlighted the ongoing threats to journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society activists. She cited more than 450 incidents of Red-tagging in the first half of 2024, linking 61% of these to state agencies such as NTF-Elcac.

Her report also emphasized the dangers journalists face in the Philippines. In the past three decades, 117 journalists have been killed, but only about 10% of their cases have been resolved. The Special Rapporteur urged the Marcos regime to strengthen protection for journalists and to review the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which it uses to silence critics of the state.

Meanwhile, Karapatan submitted an alternative report to the UN Human Rights Committee, detailing extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, Red-tagging, and the filing of trumped-up cases as forms of judicial harassment. It reported, along with other non-government organizations, the impunity and attacks on citizens’ economic rights. They called on the UN to have its member states stop giving aid to the Philippine state, which only strengthens the campaign of repression in the country.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) highlighted the grave impunity surrounding the killings of journalists and human rights defenders. NUJP Secretary General Ronalyn Olea thanked Special Rapporteur Khan for shedding light on the government’s failure to address these issues.

Many more groups and sectors thanked Khan for her final report and supported her call for the Philippines to ratify important international agreements such as the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and to rejoin the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. These steps would strengthen the country’s defense of human rights and support efforts to hold the most rabid rights violators accountable.