It’s a NO for the protection of human rights of LGBTQIA people?
This seemed to be the message of the Philippine government after the country’s delegation to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) rejected the call to pass the long-delayed anti-discrimination bill that eyes to protect the human rights of all people no matter their SOGIESC.
Speaking on his radio program after the release of the government’s position, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla – who led the delegation to the UN – excused this anti-LGBTQIA position by saying that some of the recommendations, including protecting the human rights of LGTQIA people, are “not acceptable” in a predominantly Catholic country like the Philippines.
“They want the SOGIE Bill for same-sex marriage to have the same as in their countries. So, that’s not acceptable for us,” Remulla was quoted as saying in Filipino. “They really want a lot to be implemented here.”
A total of 297 recommendations were presented by the member-states of the UNHRC during the UPR of the Philippines. Ninety-seven of these were rejected for being “culturally reprehensible.”
Along with the protection of LGBTQIA human rights, also rejected were calls to legalize marriage equality, divorce and abortion.
The delegation from the Philippines was composed of representatives from the Department of Justice, Presidential Human Rights Committee secretariat, Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the UN in Geneva.
