Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon.
My name is Ian Burchett and I am the director general of the Southeast Asia bureau at Global Affairs Canada.
Allow me to give you a brief update on the human rights situation in the Philippines. Rodrigo Duterte was sworn in as president of the Philippines on June 30, 2016. A central promise of his electoral campaign was to eradicate the trade in illegal drugs in less than six months.
According to the latest data available from the Philippines national police, there have been more than 3,000 drug-related killings since Duterte became president. These developments are of concern and this is why Canada is paying close attention to the situation there.
Canadian officials continue to regularly engage their counterparts in the Philippines on this important topic, namely, good governance, security, and human rights. For example, Prime Minister Trudeau and then Canadian ambassador to the Philippines have both raised Canada's concerns directly with President Duterte. Ministers Dion and McCallum also discussed the human rights situation in the Philippines during recent meetings with their counterparts in July and August of this year.
Canada also advocates for the promotion of human rights in the Philippines in multilateral fora.
One of the most important of these is the UN Human Rights Council where the universal periodic review or UPR process takes place annually. At the last UPR of the Philippines, Canada raised issues of impunity, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances. We will continue to do so again in 2017.
Armed conflicts between Muslim separatists and government forces in the southern province of Mindanao have also led to significant human rights violations.
Canada is working with local authorities and international partners to bring the perpetrators to justice.
To help bring lasting peace to Mindanao, Canada actively supports the ongoing peace process there. For example, we seconded an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to chair the independent commission on policing in Bangsamoro in 2013 and 2014, and a second officer of the RCMP will be deployed later this fall.
We are involved in many other areas and have a variety of tools to draw on in the Philippines, including the Canada fund for local initiatives, managed by our embassy in Manila with which you are already very familiar.
Canada will continue to place emphasis on the promotion and protection of human rights in the Philippines and will sustain our efforts to advocate for our values in this regard.
Thank you.