The Center for International Human Rights (CIHR) recently submitted a research report on the human rights situation in the Philippines to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva. The report, entitled The Closing of Civic Space in the Philippines, was prepared in response to the invitation issued by OHCHR for an objective assessment of the situation of human rights in the Philippines, as mandated under resolution 41/2 adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 11 July 2019. 

The report focuses on the shrinking democratic and civil society space in the Philippines. Specifically, it provides an analysis of the national security situation and the resulting patterns of human rights violations, intimidation, persecution of, or violence against members of civil society, human rights defenders, and journalists, as well as restrictions on the freedoms of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association in the country. This report was prepared by a team led by George Andreopoulos, Professor of Political Science at John Jay College and the Graduate Center and CIHR Director, and Nerve Macaspac, Assistant Professor of Geography, College of Staten Island, that included four undergraduate and graduate students: Ray Hilker, Efim Galkin, Jennifer Hirst and Amid Alhyani. The research was conducted between September 2019 and January 2020 and is based on interviews with human rights experts and members of civil society in the Philippines and an analysis of government documents, news articles and published reports of human rights organizations on the situation of human rights in the country. One of the Report's key recommendations is addressed to the Human Rights Council and calls for the adoption of a resolution to create an International Commission to conduct an independent investigation into human rights violations and take steps towards ensuring justice for the victims and their families. The CIHR team continues its research on this topic and plans to submit its findings to a scholarly journal for publication.