EU to look into HR situation in PH

The European Commission (EC) is sending a team that will look into the Philippines’ compliance with 27 core international conventions, including human rights protection.

A ranking government official said the visit could be done before the end of the year.

Walter van Hattum, head of the economic and trade section of the EU delegation to the Philippines, did not confirm a date. He told the Inquirer, however, that these “missions are part of the standard annual monitoring process under the [EU’s generalized scheme of preferences or EU GSP+]. Information obtained during the missions feeds into the commission’s assessment set out in its biennial report to the European Parliament and the EU member states.”

The conventions serve as prerequisites for a country to be included or blacklisted in the EU GSP+. The Philippines agreed to the monitoring requirement when it was still vying for inclusion in the scheme that allows countries to pay less or zero duties on their exports.

“Under the GSP+ scheme, beneficiary countries commit to effectively implement 27 conventions on human rights, labor rights, the protection of the environment, the fight against drugs and corruption. Beneficiaries are expected to give proper implementation to all conventions individually including those on human rights and on the fight against drugs,” Van Hattum also said in a separate interview earlier.

He noted the EU provides countries generous access to member economies for as long as they “effectively implement” the 27 conventions. He said the EU would then assess the country’s “progress.”

The EU GSP+ specifically allows entry to over 6,200 product lines being manufactured in the Philippines at zero duties over a 10-year period starting December 2014.

“GSP+ is, therefore, an incentive based scheme to encourage beneficiaries meet their international commitments that would continue to exist even without GSP+,” he said.

In its first review last year, the EC found the Philippines making good progress in implementing the conventions.

The results of the first assessment, which was released in January this year, showed the Philippines needing to do more even if it has strengthened its human rights legal framework beginning 2010.

During the 2015 review period, the number of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances were reported to have substantially declined. The launching of a national monitoring mechanism for extrajudicial killings was also commended as an important step forward.

On labor rights, the monitoring team said the Philippines also made important progress in improving awareness and implementing labor and employment policies and ensuring compliance with the eight fundamental International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions.