By Sunday Locus, GMA Integrated News, February 15, 2023; GMA News Online
The Philippines has launched a tracking database aimed at ensuring smooth information sharing and reporting of accomplishments and best practices for the promotion, protection, and fulfillment of human rights in the country.
The Presidential Human Rights Committee Secretariat (PHRCS) said the Philippines’ National Recommendations Tracking Database (PH-NRTD) was launched during a workshop conducted in Clark, Pampanga, from February 8 to February 10.
According to PHRCS, PH-NRTD will become the country’s main repository of information provided by all government agencies concerned to address recommendations arising from constructive dialogues with United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms and the UN Human Rights Council through its Universal Periodic Review.
It will likewise serve as a platform to assess the human rights commitments made by Executive offices that are laid out in the 3rd Philippine Human Rights Plan (PHRP) for 2018–2022. The next PHRP is scheduled for release this year.
“But the database is not merely a data-gathering tool…It also brings to concrete form our seriousness to actively engage and share with the UN and the world our best practices in complying with our human rights obligations by way of relevant laws, policies, programs, projects, and other initiatives,” PHRCS Executive Director Severo Catura said.
