THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) urged local government units (LGUs) to take a more proactive role in implementing the Indigenous Peoples (IPs) Rights Act.
Human rights commissioner Gwendolyn Pimentel-Gana issued the statement during a public hearing on protection, promotion and fulfillment of the rights of the IPs in Davao Region and Soccsksargen, and Maguindanao province that came to a close at El Bajada Hotel Thursday.
Pimentel-Gana said the office is taking account on the concerns of the IPs to further promote and protect their rights as citizens of the country. She added that the CHR is keen to aid the indigenous people on their issues and concerns.
In the first three public hearings conducted by the CHR in Luzon and Visayas, Pimentel-Gana said the common issues that were raised by IP leaders were the safety of their ancestral domain and access to basic social services.
Other concerns included the lack of roads, health centers, and school buildings in their communities as well as threats to their culture and tradition, among others.
"Cutting across these issues are issues of discrimination, violations of Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) process, especially in development aggression more so in resources conflict situations aggravated by various armed groups intruding into ancestral domain and recruiting IPs in their various struggles," Pimentel-Gana said.
Pimentel-Gana said the solution to the problems of the IPs should always be sensitive to their culture and traditions. She added that the local government must fully implement and adhere to the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.
The CHR, which started its series of nationwide public hearings, aims to identify adherence of laws, policies, rules and regulations, programs, and projects pertaining to IPs to the standards of the human rights.
It aims to settle issues of the facts relevant to the human rights situation of the IPs, focusing on thematic concerns; review the impact of the IP rights law and identify areas of improvement.
The CHR hopes to produce a comprehensive IP human rights situationer and launch the IP human rights observatory, a permanent mechanism to monitor the IP rights.