Quezon City, Philippines, November 7, 2024 – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) recently hosted a comprehensive workshop titled International Human Rights Mechanisms: Workshop on Treaty Reporting, with a focus on the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Designed to equip civil society organizations (CSOs) with the tools and knowledge needed to engage effectively with United Nations (UN) human rights treaty bodies, the workshop was a vital step toward enhancing accountability and advancing economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights in the Philippines.

The workshop opened with remarks by Gemma F. Parojinog, Director of the CHR Policy Linkages Office, who emphasized the importance of CSO involvement in treaty monitoring and reporting. She underscored CHR’s commitment to supporting civil society in presenting a holistic view of the nation’s human rights landscape, especially as it pertains to marginalized communities.

Understanding UN Human Rights Mechanisms and the ICESCR

In the first session, Signe Poulsen, Senior Human Rights Adviser from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), introduced participants to the UN human rights treaty body system. She highlighted the core aspects of ICESCR and provided insights into how CSOs can contribute to the reporting process. Poulsen detailed how the 18-member Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) reviews reports from state parties and independent submissions from CSOs, comparing perspectives and issuing recommendations to improve compliance with ICESCR standards.

Philippines to be Reviewed at the CESCR’s 77th Session

The upcoming 77th session of the CESCR, set for February 10-28, 2025 in Geneva, will include a periodic review of the Philippines’ ICESCR implementation. This review will assess progress since the last evaluation in 2016, which highlighted specific concerns across diverse rights areas, from labor conditions and the informal economy to Indigenous rights and housing. Other countries scheduled for review include Croatia, Kenya, Peru, Rwanda, and the United Kingdom.

CSO Engagement and Contribution to ICESCR Reporting

The workshop emphasized the critical role of CSOs in treaty reporting, particularly through the ICESCR’s five-year reporting cycle. CSOs are encouraged to submit independent reports that address issues impacting vulnerable populations, such as Indigenous Peoples, women, children, and persons with disabilities. CHR explained that these submissions offer alternative narratives and specialized knowledge on ESC rights issues, which can supplement the state’s own reports to provide a more nuanced picture.

Atty. Klarise E. Fortaleza, Officer-in-Charge of the CHR’s ESCR Center, presented insights on the list of issues outlined by the CESCR, noting that CSOs play a vital role in highlighting discrepancies between state reports and ground realities. “While we recognize the interconnectedness of human rights, we must focus on the state-reported issues to underscore gaps effectively,” Fortaleza stated, encouraging CSOs to collaborate and submit joint reports for greater impact.

Focus Areas for Effective CSO Reporting

CHR advised participants on creating reports that emphasize unique data, local case studies, and community involvement. The workshop covered essential guidelines for ICESCR submissions, including the January 13, 2025, deadline for reports, preferred report lengths, and focus on English-language submissions. Attendees were also given examples of impactful CSO reports from past treaty cycles, covering topics such as the rights of persons with disabilities, housing issues, labor rights, and environmental justice.

CSO Insights on Human Rights Concerns

Participants raised pressing issues that affect Filipino communities, including labor rights, access to education, challenges in the informal sector, and cross-cutting issues faced by marginalized groups. Concerns were also voiced regarding climate justice, rights of older persons, and ongoing human rights violations linked to the war on drugs. These insights will help shape CSO reports to the CESCR, aiming to provide a clearer perspective on the human rights situation in the Philippines.

Next Steps and Deadlines for CSO Contributions

CHR will develop an independent report for the 77th CESCR session and invites CSOs to submit their contributions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by November 13, 2024. The CHR encourages CSOs to collaborate, ensuring that their recommendations are action-oriented and intersectional, in alignment with the CESCR’s guidelines for effective reporting.

Intervention on the Workplan

Thanks to the Co-chairs and the members of the Fund Board for this opportunity to have this DIALOGUE with Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Organizations.  I am Grace Balawag of Tebtebba, the Indigenous Peoples International Centre for Policy Research and Education based in the Philippines, and representing the IPO constituency.  In this dialogue, we would  like to clarify that we are not representing only our respective constituencies but that we have coordinated among the various constituencies and we are covering different issues. So, specifically, I will be intervening on the Workplan:

• We believe that the Workplan is of crucial importance to take all the necessary steps and develop policies and modalities that should lead to a human rights-based and community-centered Loss and Damage Fund. 
• The workplan should prioritize urgent operationalization of the fund, direct access to resources for vulnerable countries, and community-centered approaches, with clear timelines and deliverables.
• We highlight the importance of modalities for public participation: There is a strong expectation that participation modalities will go well beyond established modalities for participation in other climate funds such as the need for a comprehensive approach to realizing meaningful participation and inclusion in all levels of the fund, from policy-making at the Board level to implementing and monitoring at the community level.
• We hope the Board will prioritize the setting up of a dedicated community access window that will realize simplification of direct access to small grants funding for affected communities, Indigenous Peoples, and those facing marginalization. Such a dedicated window will confirm the Fund’s intention and ambition to make priority support for those in the most vulnerable situations a central tenet of its funding mission.
• One crucial element is the development of a comprehensive Resource mobilization strategy reflecting the scale required (trillions not millions) and obligation of the developed countries to promptly deliver based on stringent timelines.
• We welcome the development of a dedicated framework for the best practice of environmental and social safeguards to avoid harm to communities and their environment, as well as the operationalization of an independent grievance redress mechanism. We ask the Board to be explicit about the intention to have dedicated mechanisms in place for the Fund. 
• In addition, the Fund also needs to develop proactive, dedicated policies such as an Indigenous Peoples policy, a gender policy and a youth policy, which are currently not mentioned in the Workplan. The same counts for putting in place a proactive information disclosure policy.
• Lastly, with regards to the potential operationalization of the Fund as a World Bank Financial Intermediary Fund, we highlight the need for accountability and disclosure, including through the involvement of observers and to the broader public, to secure the independence of the Fund and the full compliance with the 11 conditions set out in the COP/CMA.
• We are aware that the operationalization of all of these modalities in the context of the urgency to delivering funding is a daunting task for the Board. We would however caution against disbursing any funding before the modalities that will ensure the protection and fulfillment of the rights of those the Fund is meant to serve are in place. Civil society and Indigenous Peoples are here to support the development of any of these important modalities. 

Grace Balawag of Tebtebba Foundation and representative of the Indigenous Peoples Constituency addressed the board of the Loss and Damage Fund in the ongoing board meeting of the Loss and Damage Fund in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea. Balawag  delivered the cross-constituency statement specifically on the Board's Work Plan during observers’ dialogue with the Board.

Happy International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples!

We at Tebtebba, together with our partners in the Philippines, UPAKAT (Philippine Network of Indigenous Knowledge Holders) and our global partners, ELATIA (Indigenous partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America), we wish you more strength and power in your work to build more self-governing and sustainable communities. 

It is always inspiring to see the passion and commitment of indigenous peoples to assert and claim their rights contained in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. August 9 was the day the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples first met at the UN in Geneva in 1982. We celebrate this day when we finally succeeded to get the UN to officially open its door for our participation to raise our issues and craft the UN Declaration on our rights. Since then, we got the UN General Assembly to adopt the UNDRIP in 13 September 2007. 

Our task is to continue our efforts to get States to implement the UNDRIP and establish national laws to recognize and protect our individual and collective rights and corporations to respect our rights. We need to sustain our efforts to empower ourselves. We have come a long way but challenges remain which include criminalization of indigenous persons and organizations, grabbing of ancestral territories, forced displacement, among others. We will not be daunted and we continue to face these problems with grit and determination. Long live indigenous peoples of the world. Mabuhay!!

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
Executive Director, Tebtebba Foundation