General Debate Item 10
3 April 2024

Mr. President,

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the donor countries on the UN Joint Programme for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Philippines, namely Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and my own country Switzerland.

We commend the efforts of the Government of the Philippines and various UN agencies under the UN Joint Programme for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Philippines (UN Joint Programme) between 2021 and 2024. The UN Joint Program illustrates how collaboration between a UN member state and the United Nations can contribute to concrete progress while including different actors from civil society and the national human rights institution. Despite much progress made, certain program objectives are far from being achieved, particularly regarding domestic investigative and accountability mechanisms. We therefore recall the possibility of carrying out an evaluation of the UN Joint Programme, as mentioned by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in its report A/HRC/51/58.

In this context we regret that the Government of the Philippines has not been able to renew the UN Joint Programme. However, we are encouraged that the Government of the Philippines is committed to continuing the mechanism of collaboration with various stakeholders through the “Human Rights Coordinating Council of the Philippines”. Civil society organizations must absolutely be represented within this new institution. We call on the Government of the Philippines to also include the various United Nations agencies to benefit from their expertise in this area.

We are at your disposal to contribute to the success of the new institution.

Thank you.