MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has vowed to champion human rights as Manila bids to serve in the United Nations rights body for another term from 2019 to 2021.

At a reception held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, the Philippines highlighted the importance it gives to upholding human rights.

The Philippine mission to the UN in Geneva, joined by the missions of Bahrain, Bangladesh, Fiji and India – the five candidates from the Asia-Pacific group campaigning for a seat in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the next term – hosted a joint reception at the UN headquarters in Europe.

The cocktail reception was attended by a majority of delegations attending the 39th Session of the UNHRC as well as officials from the Missions to the UN in Geneva. The brief program afforded the Permanent Missions of each of the candidates the opportunity to address the guests about their candidatures.

All five representatives spoke of the importance of human rights in their national contexts, their commitment to rights-based principles and policies, and shared their views on why their membership in the council would advance the cause of human rights throughout the world.

Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Evan Garcia shared the message of the Philippines being among the original members when the council was established in 2006.

He emphasized “the high importance the Philippines places upon the issue of human rights, being a core issue of the UN and a right that is fundamental to all. Hence, our strong desire to continue to participate and further contribute to the work of the HRC.”

“The Philippines is a party to eight of the nine core human rights instruments and views the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a landmark document of equal importance to the UN Charter in terms of significance and impact,” Garcia said.

“The respect for human rights is a core value and principle of the Philippines, and we will continue to abide by our commitments and champion human rights as we strive to serve in the council for the term 2019-2021,” he added.

Members of the UNHRC urged the Philippine government to put an end to alleged rights abuses in its bloody war on drugs and bow to strong calls for an external investigation into the deadly campaign.