Some 100 non-government organizations from all over the country under the umbrella network of Kampanya para sa Makataong Pamumuhay (KAMP or Dignified Life for All Campaign) are asking incoming President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to adopt their pro-poor agenda.

In the Philippines, the organization PhilRights push for the enforcement, creation or amendment of ESC rights legislations.

This guidebook brings together the field experience of Terre des Hommes France’s old or recent partners such as Guamina, as part of the Malian ESC Rights Platform, Convergencia de Organismos Civiles (Mexico), FASE (Brazil), and PhilRights (Philippines) in drafting a shadow report for presentation to the UN Committee on ESC rights.

Philippine NGOs submitted an alternative report on ESC rights in 1995, in 2002 and 2008.

Why indicators? Unlike civil and political rights, ESC rights still do not have clear parameters that will indicate whether they are being realized or violated. Determine whether government policies and actions are in accordance or in violation with its ESC rights obligations. Determine whether the government is progressively implementing ESC rights. Who should set the indicators? Human Rights principles of self-determination, participation, and empowerment tell us that the people (...)

The Philippine NGO-PO Network for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights released this press statement on the eve of the UN CESCR review of the Philippine report, in November 2008.

The filipino official report was examined by the UN Committee on ESC rights in November 2008. In this document, you will find the issues and questions raised by the Committee and the governement’s answers.

This international programme of training on Economic, Social and Cultural (ESC) Rights enforceability approaches brings together Non-Governmental Organizations from Benin, Cameroon, France, India, Mali, Senegal, Togo and the Philippines. We decided to pool our experiences, notably via this website, in order to mutually build our capacities and share them with other stakeholders. Partners: Aoudaghost Network : Senegal Unit Benin Unit Togo Unit Malian Unit and the Malian ESC rights (...)

The Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights), the research and information arm of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), a nationwide coalition of human rights defenders composed of more than fifty (50) organizations, throws its support to and calls for the immediate passage of House Bill 6342 or An Act to Regulate the Rational Exploration, Development and Utilization of Mineral Resources.

This document compiles exchanges of the first international training session which took place in Bamako, April 14th-17th, 2008. The themes addressed were: the various steps of mobilising civil society on ESC rights (Setting up ESC rights platforms, Indicator setting with participative enquiries and collection of data, Lobbying, advocacy), the participation in the elaboration and modification of laws integrating ESC rights and the drafting of shadow reports.

The second international seminar of this programme took place in Bangalore (India) in June 2009. We discussed the thematics : Organizing civil society into a broad social movement, Monitoring the UN Committee on ESC rights’ recommendations, Monitoring administrative and judicial practices and Mobilizing for the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The story of Goldilocks workers is far from the usual “they lived happily ever after”-plot of fairy tales from which the company got its name. The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) and the NGO-PO Network for ESC Rights strongly condemn the series of rights abuses perpetrated against the workers belonging to Bukluran ng Independenteng Samahan na Itinatag sa Goldilocks (BISIG) who went on strike last March 11th, 2010 to protest the company’s labor rights violations such as (...)

Certify as urgent the following human rights bills: a.) Commission on Human Rights Charter b.) Martial Law victims compensation c.) Enforced disappearance and extra-legal killings d.) Internally displaced persons (IDPs) e.) Anti-discrimination f.) Protection of human rights defender g.) Release of detainees on recognizance h.) Reproductive health i.) Alternative Mining Act j.) Magna Carta for the Informal Sector Review, adopt and implement the National Human Rights Action Plan (...)

As President Benigno Aquino III prepares to deliver his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, rights groups challenged him to seriously pursue “zero human rights violations” during his term. According to Nymia Pimentel Simbulan of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), PNoy “should put human rights at the heart of his governance” and adopt policies that will put a stop to killings and forced disappearances of militants and journalists. Meanwhile, Teody Navea (...)

In India as well as in the Philippines, it is mainly associations who defend economic, social and cultural rights in a situation where public authorities violate these rights on a daily basis.

Flashback on the last regional workshop that was held in Bangalore in May 2009.

The Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) condemns in the strongest possible terms the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) decision to issue an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the 11, 200 hectare Mindoro Nickel Project to be ‘developed’ by the Intex Resources, a Norwegian mining company. [...] Once again, DENR has exhibited the government’s insensitivity to the predicament of local communities affected by large-scale mining and other develoment projects. In its eagerness to invite and please foreign investors, it has betrayed and violated the right to self-determination and the right to participation of its people.

As the world marks the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) today, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) is enraged over the Arroyo administration’s scheming and brazen attempts to elude accountability for its human rights violations and perpetuate itself to power. For one, the Maguindanao massacre would not have happened if Arroyo did not coddle and connive with the Ampatuans and other local warlords and political kingpins for electoral (...)

The Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) is the research and information arm of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA).

PhilRights envisions a just, democratic, peaceful and prosperous Philippines founded on a culture of human rights and gender equity. It envisions a society where each individual is able to fully realize one’s potential as a human person, to participate effectively in the economic, political and cultural life, and to share equitably in the benefits of economic progress.

To achieve this, PhilRights seeks to empower Filipinos, either directly or through their organizations...

Inspite the headways in ESC rights advocacy and the convening of a broad network that drafted the 2008 alternative report, Philippine civil society groups needed 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.

Around twenty-five (25) human rights defenders from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, and China gathered for three days in Quezon City, Philippines on February 24-27, 2010 to exchange experiences, stories, insights, and methods in advocating for economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights such as food, housing, education, health, social security, and work.

Right to health, Right to food - The debate on whether or not to allow aerial spraying of chemicals in banana plantations here and in the rest of the country continues with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) calling on President Macapagal-Arroyo to shelve it.

The Philippines’ government presented its Economic, Social and Cultural Rights report on November 2008, in this article you will find the Major Recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

On 18th February 2009 was organized a Multi-stakeholders forum and dialogue on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights in the Philippines to popularize the Concluding Observations of the Committee regarding the Philippine ESC Rights Report.

The champions of the Philippine Revolution against colonization rose up in arms not just to fight for freedom and independence but also for lands, decent jobs, livelihood, right to education, and, essentially, the right to live humanely. It was an uprising for rights, a cry for dignity. Today, even as we proudly remember our heroes and their valiant deeds, we are still hounded by issues and atrocities that undermine human rights and attack the very fiber of our beings as individuals, as (...)

On October 22, 2009, the Philippine NGO-PO Network for ESC Rights publishes a statement on the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

To: The President of the Republic of the Philippines We, the undersigned are extremely concerned about the situation of the indigenous peoples and rural communities of Palawan Island (the Philippines’ last ecological frontier). Palawan is part of the Man and Biosphere Reserve program of UNESCO and hosts 49 animals and 56 botanical species found in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. MacroAsia mining corporation and Celestial Nickel Mining Exploration Corporation (currently being (...)

The “Summer University on International Solidarity” will take place from 7 to 10 of July 2010 in Bordeaux (France). Terre des Hommes France co-organized a module on Human Rights and Dignity and a workshop on the right to food in the Philippines with the participation of its partner, Bernardo D. Larin from PhilRights.

Knowing one’s human rights is a necessary condition for people to claim and assert them. "Training on Your Rights: Modules on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights", consists of several modules that will equip people with needed skills to monitor and document the realization or abuse of their rights.