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Saturday, July 08, 2006
Int'l rights group urges halt to militants' killings
AN INTERNATIONAL human rights group has called on the Philippine government to stop the killings of human rights workers in the country, a call coupled by an online petition pressing the government to "take unequivocal steps to stop the killings in order to avert a new social crisis."
Basil Fernando, executive director of the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), even wrote newly installed national police chief Oscar Calderon to exhaust all possible means to stop the killings by arresting the prosecuting the killers.
Fernando said the police should take this as top priority.
"It is not sufficient to say that simply addressing the unrelenting killings is a part of your agenda; it must be at the top of your agenda," Fernando said.
On Thursday, an online petition was launched in Hong Kong asking the police authorities to "investigate crimes allegedly committed by State security forces and agents, in particular those committed against human rights defenders, journalists and leaders of indigenous peoples, and the lack of measures taken to prosecute and punish the perpetrators."
Behind the petition are the United Filipinos in Hong Kong, Philippine Independent Church, and Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants together with the AHRC.
The groups estimated over 290 killings of activists since 2004 and the petitioners described the authorities' response to these as "completely inadequate."
The AHRC and the petition identified the witness protection as a key area for attention by the police chief and justice department.
"The Witness Protection Security and Benefit Act do not appear to be operative at all. Nor are we aware of any efforts made by the police to recommend that persons at risk be recommended to the Department of Justice as beneficiaries under this law," Fernando said citing the killing of Enrico Cabanit in Davao del Norte on April 24 as an example.
Cabanit's daughter, he said, survived the attack but she has since received no protection, and the perpetrators of the crime remain at large.
Fernando also cited the case of Amante Abelon who survived an attack in Zambales on March 20 where his wife and son were killed. He too has since been unprotected, and witnesses to the attack also fear for their lives, he said.
"First, and most obviously, full investigations and judicial inquiries must follow without delay, with a view to holding the perpetrators fully accountable for their crimes and making clear that this pattern of killings will not be allowed to continue," the petition said.
"Secondly, witness protection must be given to all persons who have witnessed the crimes," it added.
Until these measures are taken, the perpetrators will remain free and the killings will undoubtedly continue. The Government of the Philippines must take action if this situation is to be averted.
The petition also stated that the killings spoke to the "government's failure to meet its obligations under international law, in particular, in relation to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
It also called for the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines to play a stronger role in addressing the killings.
The petition will be sent to the justice department, UN human rights experts, the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and the Pope, the groups said. (Press release)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 8, 2006 issue)
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