The Department of Justice, as representative of the 8 treaty lead agencies of the government, delivered the Solidarity Statement on the occasion of the official launch of the 4th Philippine Human Rights Plan or PHRP4 on 10 December 2024.

Undersecretary Raul T. Vasquez, supervising official of the DOJ Human Rights Office, read the Statement on behalf of Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” C. Remulla, the vice-chairperson of the Presidential Human Rights Committee (PHRC).

In the Statement, Secretary Remulla emphasized that the Department, as lead agency in the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), will prioritize to achieve 2 major goals, namely: a strengthened domestic accountability mechanism that will address grave human rights violations including extralegal killings, enforced disappearances, and torture, and a much improved prison conditions and reformation programs for persons deprived of liberty (PDL). He also expressed the government’s openness to attain the goals and objectives under PHRP4 in close collaboration and partnership with the civil society and the international community.

“The Bagong Pilipinas government under the leadership of President Ferdinand R. Maros, Jr. stands at the forefront in the nation’s crusade to protect and promote human rights as evident in the continuously improving human rights situation in the Philippines,” the Statement of Secretary Remulla partly read.

The DOJ also received a Plaque of Appreciation from Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, Chairperson of the PHRC, for its active role in the development of PHRP4.

The PHRP4 is a fulfillment of one of the three pledges of the Philippines before the United Nations on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 2023. It is the second to be achieved so far, along with the creation of the Special Committee on the Human Rights Coordination pursuant to the President’s Administrative Order No. 22 on 8 May 2024. Government efforts to achieve the third pledge – the establishment of an independent and world-class National Forensic Institute – are underway.