Pilot activity in the Philippines

— a focus on the implementation of human rights of indigenous people

The Philippine pilot project is entitled "A Study on the Diagnosis of Indigenous Peoples Rights To Ancestral Domain in Three Selected Ancestral Domains in the Philippines". It aims at developing methods and tools utilizing quantitative and qualitative approaches that will diagnose the current human rights situation among indigenous peoples. To attain the project objective, the study shall be conducted with the aim of:

1. Determining the perceptions and level of awareness of the IPs' rights to ancestral domain;
2. Describing their reported enjoyment/realization on one hand, and/or violations of their rights to ancestral domain on the other hand;
3. Identifying measures provided to IPs by governance stakeholders to enhance/facilitate the enjoyment of their rights to ancestral domain and
4. Describing mechanisms availed of by IPs from their respective IP communities and the government to redress their grievances due to violation and to fulfillment of their rights to ancestral domain.

The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines (CHR) as Partner Implementing Organization (PIO) brings together the expertise of three statistical agencies -

Stakeholders expressing their questions, Baguio, Philippines

National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), National Statistics Office (NSO), and Statistical Research and Training Center (STRC), and those of National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), the academia and NGO sectors.

As a vulnerable sector in the Philippine society, this project seeks to bring the human rights situation of Indigenous Peoples before Philippine policy makers and development managers to be able to improve their current situation so that they can realize their basic rights and fundamental freedoms. At the global and national levels, this project addresses needs for evidence-based policy making, enhancement of human rights reporting and governance evaluation.

The development of the methods and tools shall be the result of a process of dialogue, consultative and consensus building between and among the CHR as PIO and its local partners as well as governance stakeholders on the rights of IPs.