The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in the Cordillera region has started an investigation into reports that a United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur and his team were subjected to surveillance in Kalinga province during their own investigations.
UN Special Rapporteur Cali Tzay and his team went to visit Kalinga villages in July, where the CHR reports in a statement that they were “tailed” by an unknown pick-up truck near the Chico Dam.
“The CHR Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) has already initiated an investigation into this incident to ascertain the facts and ensure that any potential impingement on freedom of movement and the right to peaceably assemble are addressed promptly,” the CHR said in a statement on Tuesday.
While the CHR says that the team had not reported any open hostility or threat from the visited communities, the CHR still intends to fully investigate the incident in the interest of security and freedom of movement for indigenous people and international human rights mechanisms and experts.
UN SR Tzay visited the country in July this year to join dialogues on the pressing socio-political and economic challenges confronting indigenous cultural communities and indigenous peoples.
