The Philippines has flatly rejected the United Nations Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) recommendation to legalize same-sex marriage, as well as to allow abortion and divorce
During last week's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said such suggestions from other UN member states are "not acceptable."
"It's a matter of policy whether we accept it or not and I think we know as a country, we are not ready for that," Remulla said during a news conference on Monday.
"Culturally, our values may conflict with many of the values that they (Western countries) want to impose upon us. We are not ready for that, culturally we are not ready for that. That is our position right now," he continued.
"Actually, I think we are the only country together with the Vatican that still does not recognize divorce. We just do not recognize it because the premises of that has not been laid out properly. We want the legislature to do their job," Remulla stated.
He emphasized that the divorce issue is legislative, "so we can't really promise them that."
"We have to reject it," he stated.
According to Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez, the Philippine delegation rejected the suggestions outright "because of national identity, our religious beliefs and our cultural traditions and the Philippine sovereignty that need to be protected and upheld at all times."
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a peer review system through which the promotion and protection of human rights in all 193 UN member states is examined on a regular basis.
"It provides an opportunity for all states to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights," said Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano 4th, a spokesman for the Department of Justice (DoJ).
This year's study included 117 of the 179 UN member nations.
According to Remulla, more than 100 member nations supported the Philippines or expressed satisfaction with the country's "in the human rights performance of the Philippines."
Around 15 UN member states, he claimed, "remained in the negative."
"These are the usual countries that always pick on the Philippines. These are the rich countries from Europe that are very, very high on individual rights and have no notion of community rights. But I think we did very well," the Justice Secretary stated.
More than two-thirds of the suggestions made by the reviewing nations were adopted by the Philippine delegation to the UPR.
SOURCE
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