DFA Signs Legal Framework Concretizing PH Global Pledge on Refugee Protection

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr.  signs the legal framework for the Complementary Pathways (CPath) Program for Rohingyas. (DFA-OPCD Photo by Maria Vanessa Ubac)

PASAY 24 June 2022 — Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. signed on 22 June 2022 the Legal Framework for the Complementary Pathways (CPath) Program for Rohingyas, which will allow the Philippines to accept Rohingya refugees to enter the country and avail themselves of tertiary education training here.

The CPath program aims to provide an educational pathway to eligible beneficiaries, utilize a comprehensive approach by engaging relevant government agencies and private institutions, and promote durable solutions by helping beneficiaries achieve self-reliance.

“This initiative concretizes the country’s pledge at the first Global Refugee Forum in 2019 to explore complementary pathways for admitting refugees and President Rodrigo Duterte’s emphasis on protection for those fleeing for safety,” Secretary Locsin said.

Secretary Locsin congratulated the Department of Justice for shepherding the program and getting it off the ground. He also thanked the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for its support for the Philippine government in this initiative and in the area of protection of persons of concern in general, including in the Inter-Agency Steering Committee (IASC) on refugees, statelessness and persons of concern and the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM).

The CPath program is another testament to the country’s leadership in humanitarian and statelessness efforts, having been a State Party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The Philippines is also the first country in Southeast Asia to have acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness which will enter into force on 24 June 2022.

The Philippines’ launch of the National Action Plan to End Statelessness in November 2017, which contains concrete action points for the government to implement until the year 2024, bolsters the UNHCR’s 10-year campaign to end statelessness through the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness.

Other milestones this year that fortify the country’s commitment to advance the protection of persons of concern include the adoption of the Foundling Recognition and Protection Act and President Duterte’s signing of Executive Order No. 163 in February which institutionalizes the access to protection services in the Philippines by refugees, stateless persons and asylum seekers. END

From left: State Counsel Gisella Lourdes Mendoza (DOJ), State Counsel and Assistant Head of DOJ-RSPPU (DOJ), Paulito De Jesus, SFA, Iris Joy Tayag, Information Technology Associate (UNHCR), and DFA-UNIO Director Majella Pua-Diezmos (Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Division). (DFA-OPCD Photo by Maria Vanessa Ubac)