03/07/2024
Marcos Jr.’s calamitous climate and human rights record exposed in UN Special Rapporteur Report
Statement on the Philippines Visit Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change
Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment
2 July 2023
Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (KPNE) commends the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights for the critical report on the 10-day country visit of former mandate holder, Dr. Ian Fry, to the Philippines last November 2023. Released in time for the UN Human Rights Council 56th session in Geneva, the report findings and recommendations expose the Marcos Jr. administration's disastrous climate and human rights record, contradicting his façade as a climate advocate.
The Special Rapporteur criticized the Marcos Jr. administration’s development agenda, including the push for mines, hydroelectric dams and land reclamation projects that “contradicts the highly fragile nature of the country”. Concern is also expressed over “the choice of mitigation projects [that] is leading to a number of human rights violations” namely in mining, hydropower, and the phaseout of public utility jeepneys.
The rampant mining for so-called strategic minerals for renewable energy such as nickel, copper and gold has been cited in the report to cause various human rights violations that include forced evictions, water contamination, and violation of the right to food and water. The report also cited hydropower dams lacking free prior informed consent, depriving people of their right to water, and emitting greenhouse gas methane. The Special Rapporteur likewise expressed concern that both dams and mines destroy critical watersheds, in turn intensifying flooding and landslides, and can be disastrous in a typhoon- and earthquake-prone country.
The report also highlighted the issue of reclamation, specifically mentioning how projects like the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan threaten to worsen flooding, damage marine life and affect the livelihoods of already struggling fisherfolk in Manila Bay. This echoed the sentiments of civil society and communities about ongoing projects in Manila Bay despite President Marcos Jr.'s suspension claims. The report calls for an immediate moratorium on all coastal land reclamation.
We reiterate that Marcos Jr.’s neoliberal economic framework, which increasingly commodifies the nation's natural resources and hands control to foreign corporations and local oligarchs, is exacerbating poverty and deepening the climate crisis. The government’s silence on the Special Rapporteur’s concerns and recommendations around mining, dams, and reclamation in its response to the Visit Report is a glaring sign of its insincerity in prioritizing the rights and welfare of its citizens.
We further applaud the call of the Special Rapporteur to disband the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), which has been a chief violator of the rights of environmental and human rights defenders nationwide to safety, liberty, and freedom of expression. Since its inception, the NTF-ELCAC has been acting as a protection force for powerful economic interests in the country, which the Special Rapporteur has correctly pointed out “has nothing to do with anti-terrorism or anti-communism.”
We similarly applaud the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation to repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), which echoes the longstanding call of environmental and human rights groups. In light of intensifying violations of human rights and international humanitarian law under the Marcos Jr. administration, which includes the militarization, bombing, and strafing of communities, as well as the freezing of accounts of humanitarian organizations, it is clear that the state is the chief instigator of terror against its citizens to silence dissent and force obedience.
Instead of seriously addressing these concerns, the Philippine government is blatantly greenwashing the Anti Terror Law and the NTF-ELCAC by outrageously framing these as tools in its climate and disaster response. It also seeks to undermine the findings of Dr. Ian Fry while employing pressure tactics on the UN system until his early resignation from his mandate. We salute Dr. Fry for speaking truth to power.
The Special Rapporteur's conclusions make it clear that the Marcos Jr. administration must answer for its systematic human rights violations related to climate change and the environment. However, the administration’s dismissive response underscores its unwillingness to tackle the crisis holistically. This makes it clear that civil society and people's organizations must persist in resisting these oppressive policies and maximize all avenues to hold the climate and human rights disaster that is the Marcos Jr. administration accountable. # #
