[Event] Capacity Building for City and Municipal Health Officers on Gathering Evidence and Giving Expert Testimony to Improve Prosecution – MAG

September 2, 2011

2–3 minutes

CHR, Contemporary hit radio, Human Right, Human Rights and Liberties, Philippine, Press Release, Raquel del Rosario, University of the Philippines Manila

The Medical Action Group, Inc. (MAG), in partnership with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the Association of Municipal Health Officers (AMHOP), and with the support of The British Embassy Manila, is currently conducting a 5-day Capacity Building for City and Municipal Health Officers on Gathering Evidence and Giving Expert Testimony to Improve Prosecution. The activity started on August 29 and will end on September 2, 2011.

The learning event was attended by thirty (30) City and Municipal Health Doctors and Rural Health Physicians from Pampanga, Abra, Cagayan, Bataan, Batangas and Zambales. The training program was designed to increase the capacity and build the public health doctors’ confidence in gathering evidence and effective and comprehensive medical documentation. A pool of renowned experts like Atty. Jasmin Navarro-Regino, the Regional Director of the Commission on Human Rights Region III, Dr. Nymia Pimentel-Simbulan, the Executive Director of the Philippine Human Rights Information Center (PhilRights) and Public Health Professor at the University of the Philippines Manila, Forensic Pathologist Raquel del Rosario-Fortun and Atty. Jose Manuel I. Diokno were invited to impart knowledge on the different topics: (1) Basic Human Rights Concepts and Principles; (2) The Right to the Highest Attainable Standards of Physical and Mental Health; (3) The Human Rights-Based Approach to Health; (4) Forensic Sexual Assault Examination; and (5) Testifying in Court.

The aforementioned project is granted by British Embassy Manila – Human Rights and Democracy Programme. MAG and BEM, together with the CHR and AMHOP agreed to the following project objectives:

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

To improve the prosecution of human rights violations cases by increasing the capacity of health professionals in providing proper medical documentation and expert testimony in court.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE

1. To raise awareness of the health professionals on human rights and the use of Rights Based Approach (RBA) to health in local health planning;

2. To improve the medical and technical documentation skills of the Municipal Health Officers in documenting cases of human rights violations in particular sexual assault and torture; and

3. To provide knowledge and skills on the legal requirements

The project will be engaged by the concerned parties to begin on August 6, 2011 and end on February 29, 2012.