The Commission on Human Rights on Thursday called for the protection of environmental defenders, saying “environmentalists in the Philippines risk their lives every time they go out in the field to do scientific research.”
Jacqueline Ann de Guia, CHR lawyer-spokesperson, echoed the commission’s belief that “one vital way to protect the environment is to safeguard the rights of our environmental defenders.”
As the United Nations commemorate the World Wildlife Day this week, she lamented that despite their genuine intention to protect the ecosystems and empower communities, environmental defenders still experience “unjust labeling” as dangerous threats to national security and are even subjected to various forms of harassment and attacks.
“This is regardless of peacefully carrying out their profession and responsibly exercising their rights to freedom of speech, association and assembly,” De Guia said in a statement.
In 2010, the country’s top-most botanist Dr. Leonard Co and his two aides were killed by the military when they were mistaken as rebels during a combat operation in Kananga, Leyte.
The government downgraded the murder case to homicide only against the accused military men, and the case continued to drag for 10 years.
“The commission continues to monitor the case of Dr. Co since it first launched an investigation in 2010,” De Guia said.
Meanwhile, in another statement, De Guia said CHR “strongly” backs the swift passage of a bill to end child marriage.
“It is high time that we pass a robust legislative framework geared toward protecting children from the harmful practices of child marriage,” it added.
