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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Group told UN: take RP to task over extrajudicial killings (4:44 p.m.)
MANILA -- A human rights group urged the United Nations (UN) on Thursday to take the Philippines to task for failing to prosecute soldiers suspected of involvement in a string of extrajudicial killings.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the Philippines has done little to implement recommendations made last year by Philip Alston, the UN special envoy on extrajudicial killings, as well as the government's own fact-finding commission.
Both have linked soldiers to hundreds of deaths and disappearances of mostly left-wing activists belonging to political organizations that the military brands as fronts for communist rebels.
"The list of actions touted by the Philippine government as progress unfortunately seems little more than 'window-dressing,'" said Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch's deputy director for Asia.
She told reporters that the actions seemed "designed to merely deflect ... criticism."
Philippine officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council will hold its first Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines' human rights record April 11, during which council members can question government representatives in a public session.
All governments are subjects to the review.
Pearson said the Philippines has reported to the council that the number of killings dropped significantly in 2007.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo told foreign diplomats in January that seven activists and journalists were killed last year, compared to 41 in 2006.
The left-wing human rights group Karapatan also reported considerably fewer activists were killed or abducted last year, but gave higher figures of 68 activists slain and 26 missing, down from 185 dead and 93 missing in 2006.
Karapatan head Marie Hilao Enriquez said in a December report that the drop can be attributed to pressure from the diplomatic community and human rights groups.
The report said 887 left-wing activists and their supporters have been killed and another 185 have disappeared since Arroyo took office in 2001.
The government said it has strengthened witness protection laws, but can do little to force people to testify if they fear retribution. Without witnesses, no prosecution can move forward, it said.
Pearson said the group's research found the government measures have accomplished little.
She said perpetrators must be prosecuted and institutional changes put in place.
In the killings since Arroyo came to office in 2001, "not a single military official has been convicted," Pearson said.
She also expressed concern that some ranking military and police officers have publicly suggested that members of activist organizations are valid targets because of their alleged association with communist rebels. (AP) |
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