CHR to continue advocacy against the death penalty

The Commission on Human Rights said it is "ready to engage Congress in a frank and factual conversation about the death penalty" as lawmakers consider restoring capital punishment in the Philippines.

"We are ready to present the ineffectiveness of the death penalty and offer viable programs that result in crime prevention and lowering crime incidence," Commissioner Karen Gomez-Dumpit said in a statement.

"These include police visibility or increasing police to population ratios and community vigilance. We fully support these initiatives that do not diminish our principles to uphold the right to life," she added.

Commissioner Gomez-Dumpit said that while the CHR does not want crime to go unpunished, capital punishment is not the solution to lower crime incidence.

"The apprehension, prosecution, conviction and punishment of those who have committed wrong doings must be in accordance with human rights standards and principles," she said.

"We also have to ensure that our legal obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Second Optional Protocol aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty are respected and fulfilled," the commissioner said.

"As a state party to these human rights treaties, we have perpetually committed not to impose nor reintroduce capital punishment."

Date: 19 May 2019

Source: Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines