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Saturday, July 15, 2006
CHR to step up lobby for anti-torture law
THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) will step up its campaign for the passage of a bill that will criminalize torture in the country.
CHR chairperson Purificacion V. Quisumbing said together with some groups of human rights advocates they will continue to lobby in Congress for the passage of the torture bill.
"I appealed to the Congress and explained to the lawmakers why the bill is very important," Quisumbing said in an interview yesterday at the Marco Polo Hotel.
Earlier the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to order the Congress to fast track the approval of a bill that will criminalize torture in the country.
The group said the Philippine government signed the Untied National Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment last 1987, but a bill criminalizing torture has not been promulgated.
But the government has not done anything yet to ensure that the contents of this convention are followed.
"That's because they don't understand it unless somebody they know or sila mismo experienced torture," Quisumbing said.
If approved by the Congress, she said, the bill will impose penalties on people who committed torture.
Quisumbing said torture is a criminal act committed by somebody working for the government.
In a report from the TFDP, Mindanao has the most number of torture cases perpetrated by government forces, with 53 of the total of 105 cases, followed by Luzon with 53 cases and Visayas with 17 for the period January 23, 2001 to June 29 2006. (BRQ)
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 15, 2006 issue)
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