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Friday, March 29, 2024

After 30 years, CHR must have own Charter, says Epres

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The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) wants a charter of its own, lamenting that it did not have one for more than 30 years.

“We do not have one. CHR has already been in existence for 30 years but it does not have its own Charter,” CHR Commissioner Beda Epres said in an interview on national television.

Despite previous recommendations to strengthen its functions and structure in compliance with the Paris Principle on national institutions for the promotion of human rights as adopted by the United Nations, the Philippine CHR has been operating without a charter since its creation in 1987.

Then CHR chairperson Leila de Lima filed a Senate bill seeking to regard CHR as a national human rights institution, and to strengthen its powers and functions.

According to Epres, once a charter is passed, the CHR would be able to come up with its clear-cut powers and functions.

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In September, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed Epres to become a CHR commissioner to replace Commissioner Eugenio Cadiz whose seven-year term ended on Sept. 15.

Epres will serve as CHR commissioner from 2022 until 2029.

Also during the Mangahas Interviews, Epres said he sees the need to give more teeth to the investigative powers of the, and he would recommend that the commission be the nominal complainant in high-profile cases.

“So our monitoring of cases would be continuous from the time of the fact-finding investigation up to the filing of a complaint with the appropriate agencies, or even with the courts,” he noted.

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