Visiting United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan on Friday advocated the scrapping of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) since the bases for its creation have changed already.
In a press conference in Mandaluyong, Khan, who serves as the US Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, also urged the Philippine government to adopt and expedite the passage of a law purportedly to protect human rights defenders.
Khan stressed that the task force’s abolition “will not only address some of the most critical drivers of red-tagging, but it will also allow” the Marcos administration to modernize peace building approaches based on the changing political landscape.
“This will allow for a more inclusive peace-making platforms with genuine whole of nation approach to peace,” the UN Special Rapporteur said.
In the past, the NTF-ELCAC was often criticized for red-tagging—or linking activists, human rights workers, journalists, and administration critics to the armed communist movement.
However, the task force maintained several times that its members were not red-tagging but only stating facts.
“I call upon the executive and the House of Representatives at the national level to adopt, expedite a law on the protection of human rights defenders. I have been encouraged by other initiatives like the open-government initiative that brings in civil society into the development process,” Khan said.
Her recommendation stemmed from her assessment that the government’s commitment to protect its people from terrorism would sometime lead to “vilification” of individuals, such activists, who have legitimate concerns as well as the “distrust” between the state and the civil society.
Khan also made two more suggestions following her visit: one is that the government must come up with an executive order denouncing red-tagging and the other is that the Commission on Human Rights must expedite its process of legally defining red-tagging.
“The government doesn’t have a policy of corruption, but the government has a policy on anti-corruption, on fighting corruption. And I have called on the government to adopt a policy fighting red-tagging,” she said.
The UN Special Rapporteur added that the government must send a message that it does not approve of red tagging, if that is really its position.
“Because a message from the top have the same impact on mindset, whether it is a good message or a bad message,” she said.
“The good message has to come strongly from the very top about commitment to human rights and about not tolerating negligence or deliberate violation by state officials,” she added.
Khan made the recommended as she concluded her 10-day investigation in the country, which included meetings with government officials, civil society members, journalists and activists to determine the state of the freedom of opinion and expression in the country.
Earlier, Khan visited various government agencies and talked with personalities such as Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin.
Meanwhile, Altermidya Network—an alternative community of Filipino journalists and media workers—supported the recommendation of Khan to abolish NTF-ELCAC. They also welcomed her initial findings during her 10-day visit to the Philippines.
“It should be noted that this is the second time a Special Rapporteur has recommended the abolition of NTF-ELCAC. However, we stress that Executive Order No. 70 passed in 2018, which created the said task force, should also be junked,” the network said in a statement.
Altermidya noted that these recommendations are not only simple policy changes, but represent pleas for the restoration of a safe and enabling environment for journalists and human rights defenders.