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On Community-based Dialogues (CBD)
CBD CAR Tackles Human Rights Issues

The Commission on Human Rights-Cordillera Administrative Region (CHR-CAR) organized a Community-based Dialogue (CBD) from 16-18 September 2021 held in Baguio City in cooperation with the regional core group (representing CHR, AFP, PNP, ALG, CSOs, LGU and other relevant bodies/agencies) with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation/Germany (HSF).

AFP officer presenting

CHR-CAR

The activity tackled prevailing human rights issues in the Cordillera and identified doable solutions to the issues raised.  Moreover, the group conducted a year-end Assessment and Planning session to assess the CBD accomplishment for the year 2021 and plan for CBD activities for 2022 including a referral and feedback mechanism.

The CHR presented human rights issues and concerns prevailing in the region for the period January to August 2021.  It noted that for 2020, there are six (6) pending cases subject for investigation and for 2021, there are 25 cases, 13 of which in Baguio City.  Given its confidential nature, in general it was mentioned that a number of these cases revolve around discrimination on account of political beliefs/opinions and violations on the right to security, among others, mostly affecting human rights defenders/activists. CHR admitted the challenging task of resolving the cases for various reasons (e.g., unnamed alleged violators/perpetrators, non-cooperation of concerned parties especially CSO complainants, no/limited evidence).  It was agreed that in order to move forward on these cases, the group should have common understanding on certain parameters to better address human rights issues, such as in sharing verified information/documents (with evidence), and joint discussions on appropriate interventions, when and where possible.

CHR-CAR

The assessment and planning workshop gathered insights and feedback from the participants (who were grouped according to sector: AFP/PNP, CSOs, and CHR) on the accomplishments, challenges and gaps, strengths and best practices, and lessons learned on three (3) areas:  building collaboration among multi-stakeholders and institutionalization of the CBD program; addressing human rights violations; and human rights education, capacity building and advocacy.

Certificates of Participation were handed out to the participants, followed by a group photo.

The CBD project is a partnership of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Alternative Law Groups (ALG), and Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), with support from Hanns Seidel Foundation/Germany (HSF).

 

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