A team of EU officials travelled from Brussels to carry out an official monitoring mission to the Philippines from Monday 28 February to Friday 4 March 2022. They reviewed the country’s progress in implementing the 27 UN and ILO international conventions ratified and applicable under the Special Incentive Arrangement under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP+), covering the areas of human and labour rights, environment and climate as well as good governance.
Over the week, the officials held wide-ranging meetings with representatives of the Filipino Government, including the Departments of Trade, Justice, Labour and Employment, Environment and Natural Resources, the Presidential Human Rights Committee, the National Police, the Dangerous Drugs Board, the Drug Enforcement Agency and other relevant government services and agencies. The officials also met with representatives of civil society, including human rights defenders, trade unions and employers, and had exchanges with EU Member States’ Ambassadors and UN agencies.
The monitoring mission addressed issues relating to human rights, the rule of law, labour relations, good governance and the protection of the environment. In particular, discussions focused on the government’s actions regarding the war on drugs, accountability for extrajudicial killings, restrictions of civil society space (including red tagging of human rights defenders), freedom of expression, opinion and media, anti-torture legislation, anti-terrorism laws, freedom of association, child labour, drugs policy, environment and climate change as well as corruption. The EU conveyed a message of urgency to the Filipino authorities to address all these issues of concerns.
EU Ambassador Luc Véron said “The effective implementation of international commitments on trade and sustainable development forms the basis of the Philippine’s privileged access to the EU market. We have been working together with the Filipino government since the country joined the scheme in 2014. While my colleagues from Brussels recognise the level of engagement and the climate of frank discussions with the Filipino government, they also reiterated the need for tangible and measurable progress overtime on issues of concern”.
Monitoring and engagement with the Government of the Philippines is the subject of regular reports to the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. The most recent report dates from 2020 and was accompanied by a document assessing progress by each GSP+ beneficiary country, including the Philippines (hyperlinks below added). The information gathered by the EU’s monitoring mission this week will feed into the next report that the Commission will present to the Parliament and the Council in the second part of 2022 on the general implementation of the Scheme, which will also include an assessment of progress regarding compliance with the 27 conventions by each GSP+ beneficiary.
The EU GSP is a unilateral trade tool that eliminates tariffs on products coming into the EU from lower middle-income countries in exchange for commitments to effectively implement international conventions relating to sustainable development. The current scheme will expire at the end of 2023. On 21 September 2021, the Commission has proposed to extend, with some modifications, the scheme until 2034. The EU Parliament and the Council are currently examining the Commission’s proposal. Beneficiary countries will have to reapply to join the new Scheme to continue enjoying preferential access to the EU market.