On April 14th, 2009, PhilRights organized a workshop at Quezon City to strengthen the Philippine civil society groups’ unity and consolidate their efforts in pursuing ESC rights enforceability and justiciability.
Background / Rationale
In 2008, the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) together with the Urban Poor Associates (UPA) facilitated the drafting of an alternative report on economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights in time for the United Nation Committee on ESC Rights (UNCESCR) consideration of the State Party report in November of the same year.
Back in 1995 and 2003, Philippine civil society groups had also submitted information as to how the government had performed based on its duties and obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
However, the 2008 NGO submission was quite unique because of two reasons; it covered a broad range of ESC rights and ESC-related themes, and it involved numerous (around 140) and diverse interest groups such as urban poor groups, peasant, formal and labor, health practitioners, education network, food security advocates, and women’s groups.
Among the major coalitions involved in the drafting of the 2008 NGO report were the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Task Force Riles, HOMENET, Education Network Philippines, and the Philippine NGO Coalition for Food Sovereignty (PNLC).
It is also worth noting that most of these organizations and institutions have been working with PhilRights in its previous ESC rights undertaking such as the research on indicator-setting, capability-building sessions, and piloting of standards and indicators.
Currently, this ESC network unofficially called the NGO-PO Network for ESC Rights is engaged with the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHR) in popularizing the UNCESCR’s 2008 concluding observations and applying pressure on government agencies to comply with the Committee’s recommendations.
However, inspite these headways in ESC rights advocacy and the convening of a broad network that drafted the 2008 alternative report, Philippine civil society groups need to further strengthen its unity and consolidate their efforts in pursuing ESC rights enforceability and justiciability.
Hence the proposal to hold a one-day consultation among NGOs and people’s organizations in the Philippines to form consensus on ESC rights-related issues, identify advocacy points, and craft common strategy and tactics.
I. Objectives
1.) Forge human-rights based consensus among civil society organizations regarding concerns relevant to ESC rights realization in the Philippines;
2.) Formulate advocacy and lobby agenda applicable to the legislative, judiciary, and executive branches of government;
3.) Identify strategy and tactics for popularizing, mainstreaming, and enforcing ESC rights in the country;
4.) Formally establish the NGO-PO network as a platform for advancing ESC rights
II. Participants
Fifty-seven (57) individuals representing around forty (40) non-government organizations (NGOs) and peoples’ organizations (POs) attended the ESC rights’ national activity.
There were two delegates who came from Dumaguete City (Visayas islands) and Davao City (Mindanao). They both came from multi-sectoral organizations whose concerns were relevant to ESC rights.
The rest of the participants were from the following sectors: urban poor, labor, legal aid organization, health, agricultural workers, farmers, informal workers, migrant workers, teachers, and human rights activists.
III. Key Inputs
1.) Prof. Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, Executive Director of PhilRights discussed basic concepts and principles pertaining to ESC rights and also focused on the newly-approved Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on ESC Rights.
2.) Max de Mesa, chairperson of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), shared some insights on ESC rights advocacy. According to him, the major steps in campaigning for ESC rights include: (a) collection of primary information through research and fact-finding missions; (b) education; and (c) organizing a core of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs).
IV. Advocacy Agenda
The delegates approved the following advocacy points:
1. Engage government agencies towards complying with the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on ESC Rights (UNCESCR).
2. Lobby for the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on ESC rights (ICESCR) by the Philippine Senate.
3. Support the effort to expand the mandate of the Commission on Human Rights to include ESC rights.
V. Recommendations
Draft a declaration stating the commitment of this body to advocate for ESC rights and the agreements reached.
Action Points
- Study the possibility of launching the campaign network on Labor Day.
- Prepare a briefing paper for each sector on how they could relate ESC rights to their sectoral issues and concerns. - Inventory and assessment of existing laws related to ESC rights.
- PhilRights and PAHRA to follow-up CHR re: advocating the Concluding Observations among government agencies. Organize a regular forum with government agencies for particular ESC rights which has been done on the right to housing cluster with the CHR.
- Involve academic institutions especially law schools and church groups in this advocacy.
- Use the Concluding Observations in our organizational papers, statements, etc.
- Education and awareness campaign on ESC rights particularly the Optional Protocol at the grassroots level.
- Discuss the Optional Protocol within the campaign network.
- Lobby the Executive department so that it could be transmitted to the Senate for ratification.
- Identify an ally/allies in the Senate who can sponsor and champion the ratification. ESCR-Asia indicated that they already talked to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago regarding this matter. Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the ICESCR is included in the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP).
- Involve the CHR in the lobby with the Executive Department.
- Initiate a signature campaign to support the Optional Protocol ratification.
- Develop a form for documenting violations of ESC rights and start documenting cases of violations.
- Formation of HR Defenders at the community level.
VI. Steering Committee
To coordinate the activities on the advocacy of ESC rights of the NGO-PO Network, including the implementation of the plans of action suggested in the workshop, a Steering Committee composed of the following organizations was formed:
a.) Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
b.) Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights)
c.) AMA (agricultural workers)
d.) Makabayan
e.) ESCR-Asia
f.) Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lungsod (KPML)
g.) PANDAY
h.) Homenet
i.) PARRDS
j.) ASSERT
k.) Food First Information Action Network (FIAN)
l.) Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
