6 Righting Wrongs: Criminal Law Provisions in the Philippines related to National Security and their Impact on Human Rights Defenders discussions with various stakeholders.10 The draft developed through this process will be submitted to the Philippine Congress. According to officials of the Department of Justice, they hope to have “concrete and verifiable results” from this process before 2016. 11 This report aims to contribute to the process of crafting a new Criminal Code of the Philippines that is anchored in and consistent with respect for human rights. It focuses on existing penal laws enacted in the name of national security, many of which have been used against human rights defenders to unduly limit their right to promote and protect human rights or whose mere existence casts a chilling effect on the work of human rights defenders. This report examines these laws in the light of international human rights standards, and accordingly makes recommendations for the amendment of provisions or their repeal. The laws related to national security discussed in this report have been found to be used in a manner that is detrimental to the work of human rights defenders, particularly those who criticize government practices or policies that are detrimental to human rights or expose abuses committed by public officers. Some of the laws discussed in this report have not been used or rarely used against human rights defenders, but as mentioned above, their very existence casts a chilling effect on the work of promoting and protecting human rights. The current endeavor of updating Philippine criminal laws provides the Government of the Philippines with the opportunity to ensure that the country’s laws related to the protection of national security are consistent with international human rights standards. The Government of the Philippines must ensure that its laws related to national security do not infringe upon human rights or the work of human rights defenders. 10 Ibid. at p. 3. 11 Republic of the Philippines Department of Justice, “House starts Public Hearings on the New Code of Crimes”, 20 September 2013. http://doj.gov.ph/news.html?title=House%20starts%20Public%20Hearings%20on%20the%20New%20Code%20of%20 Crimes&newsid=223 (Accessed August 2014).