At Thursday’s observance of 17th World Day Against Death Penalty, the Commission on Human Rights vowed to stay firm in upholding the right to life and resist any move to reimpose the death penalty.
“We reiterate government’s commitment and obligation to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the Philippines expressly accepted in the free exercise of its sovereignty,” Commissioner Karen Gomez Dumpit said.
“The very nature of the treaty does not allow for withdrawal or denunciation. To reintroduce the death penalty once again will be a serious breach of international law,” she added.
At the National Congress Against the Death Penalty held in Pasig City, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Philip Alston said the poor would suffer the brunt of death penalty, sought to be revived in the Philippines.
“Death penalty, even when it is officially applied, is a punishment that affects much more severely those who are not well-off financially,” Alston said in a video message presented.
“They are the ones who are least able to defend themselves, they are the ones who are unlikely to be able to get a decent lawyer, who are not going to be able to challenge the judicial system,” he added.
Arguing against the idea that the reimposition of death penalty would deter crimes and give more teeth to the law, Alston said it might actually lead to “a dramatic weakening of the rule of law,” especially when the power to take lives is vested upon the “unrestricted hands” of few people.
Dumpit said all forms of criminality must be punished through an efficient and incorrupt justice system, and not through capital punishment.
“Death penalty can breed more problems and do more harm without resolving what it purports to stop in the first place. Death penalty is wrong and futile,” she said.
A country that makes killing a form of punishment loses the moral ground to stop killings, she added.
“The obligation to deliver justice must not breed further injustice. This year’s theme focuses on the unseen victims of capital punishment—children whose parents have been sentenced to death. The psychological and emotional suffering of these children can amount to a violation of their rights,” CHR said, referring to those who died in the government’s war on drugs.
On the other hand, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia said the commission, on the World Mental Health Day, encouraged the public “to take 40 seconds, out of 86,400 seconds, in a day to offer each words of encouragement and consolation.”
“Together we can unite for a change, it only takes 40 seconds to save a life,” she said.
According to the De Guia, almost 800,000 people die per year due to suicide or amounting to one person for every 40 seconds.
Mental health problems do not only affect adults, they also manifest even with younger individuals, she said, citing a 2015 World Health Organization Global-school based survey.