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Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Tribal group protests RP seat in UN body
AN ALLIANCE of lumad organizations criticized the inclusion of Philippines in the newly created United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, calling it an "insult to the thousands of human rights victims" under the Arroyo administration.
"Allowing the Philippines to have a seat in the UN Human Rights Council is not simply a huge oversight. It is a grave insult to the thousands of victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo regime. The Philippines is sitting in that council while hiding its blackened human rights record," said Datu Monico Cayog of the Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao or Kalumaran (Alliance of Indigenous Peoples in Mindanao).
Cayog said lumads bear the biggest brunt of human rights violations perpetrated by the government.
He called on the government to immediately relinquish the post "if there is still any decency and shame left in the Arroyo government."
"If the UN thinks that this government deserves a place in the Human Rights Council, they might as well have given the same spot to former President Marcos if it existed then," Cayog said.
The Philippines was elected in the 47-member UN Human Rights Council on account of the country's "contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights," a criterion set under the UN General Assembly resolution creating the council.
UN representative Lauro Baja Jr. was quoted as saying that the country's election "is a telling testimonial from member states of United Nations and the international community on human rights in the Philippines."
Cayog stated that even the 2003 report of the UN Special Reporter on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples Rodolfo Stavenhagen expressed distress about "multiple reports of serious human rights violations involving indigenous peoples, within the framework of a process of militarization of indigenous areas."
The same report also acknowledged that militarization can be directly linked "to the powerful interests of mining, logging and agribusiness enterprises, which acquire control over indigenous lands and resources even against the wishes of the indigenous communities and without their free and prior consent as the law establishes."
Cayog maintained that the same violations -- destruction of property, forced evacuation and relocation, threats and harassment, and general disruption of the cultural and social life of the community, are in fact intensifying in Mindanao and the rest of the country today.
He dared the Arroyo government to immediately issue another invitation to Stavenhagen to confirm the truth about his claims.
The Department of Foreign Affairs reportedly did not issue an invitation to the Stavenhagen to come to the Philippines for a follow up on his 2002 visit.
"Why would there be hesitation on the part of the Arroyo government to invite him if there was nothing to hide? This again shows the human rights hypocrisy of this regime," Cayog said.
He also challenged the United Nations to prove its independence.
"They (UN) need to show that they do not favor governments like Arroyo's that are rabidly supportive of US policies and are killing their own people with bullets and bombs paid for by their taxes," Cayog said.
He said, "Instead of giving a UN Human Rights Council seat to the Philippines, the latter should be included in the UN 'hall of shame' for having one of the worst human rights record." (BOT/With press release)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (May 16, 2006 issue)
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