The Philippines and the European Union reaffirmed their commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights in relation to the Philippine’s petition for renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences Plus.
The GSP+ monitoring mission of February 2022 assessed the progress and provided an additional platform for continued engagement on human rights and labor rights issues. Both sides acknowledged that freedom of association and assembly and an enabling civic space are crucial components of any democracy.
Both sides committed to protecting human rights defenders from violence and harassment, ensure the freedom of civil society as they also expressed concern at the reported cases of violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian laws and highlighted the need to ensure that perpetrators are held to account.
The Philippines also underscored the importance of the UN Joint Program on Human Rights which supports the government’s commitments in the areas of accountability, including in the context of the anti-illegal drugs campaign, police data on human rights violations, civic space, drug control, counterterrorism and national reporting mechanism.