Category — Urgent Actions

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PUBLIC STATEMENT

http://amnesty.org.ph/news.php?item=news&id=132

9 February 2010

The worst pre-election violence in Philippine history – the Maguindanao massacre – has focused global attention on the human rights situation in the country. Now more than ever,candidates in the 10 May presidential elections need to clarify how they will address key human rights issues facing the country.

Today as the presidential campaign period officially begins, Amnesty International calls on all of the presidential candidates to make clear, public commitments on the actions they will take in the first 100 days of office to address serious human rights violations. In a public letter to the candidates, Amnesty International called on them to affirm their commitment to:

1) Revoke Executive Order 546, and ensure full accountability over all state-sponsored militias and paramilitary groups.

Despite the mass killing of 63 civilians on 23 November in Maguindanao, members of state-armed local groups and private armies are still free to operate in other parts of the country The Philippine government’s continued failure to establish accountability for members of these armed groups undermines the rule of law and denies human rights protection for civilians.

Within 100 days, the new Philippine president should revoke Executive Order 546, which allows for militia and paramilitary groups to provide active support in counterinsurgency operations. In practice, these groups have been ill-trained, unaccountable, poorly integrated into the military chain of command, and responsible for serious human rights violations. In some provinces, Civilian Volunteer Organizations(CVOs) effectively as private armies for local politicians, heightening the risk of pre-election violence.

2) Establish a presidential commission aimed at preventing and prosecuting enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

In the last decade, at least 200 Filipinos have been subjected to enforced disappearance, and as many as 1,100 have been executed in political killings. The incoming president needs to establish an impartial and independent commission to review these cases, with the aim of enabling timely and effective investigations and, where warranted, prosecutions.

The new president should initiate legislation that specifically criminalizes enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. He or she should sign the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

3) Order the administrationto fully implement the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the displaced.

Despite the ceasefire in Mindanao,more than 125,000 people remain displaced by the 2008 armed conflict alone.To address this grave humanitarian situation, the incoming president should publicly instruct the administration to ensure that policies comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Under the Guiding Principles,the government must ensure that the displaced are provided with adequate food, water, shelter, and clothing, as well as essential healthcare and sanitation. It must also guarantee unimpeded humanitarian access to are as under its control. In addition, the government must implement a sustainable plan of action so that the displaced can return to their villages, safely and voluntarily.

As commander-in-chief, the new president will be directly responsible for ensuring that the armed forces comply with international humanitarian law. As a core principle,this law explicitly prohibits direct or indiscriminate attacks against civilians, and this includes displaced persons and all other non-combatants.

H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Republic
Malacanang Palace,
JP Laurel St., San Miguel
Manila Philippines

10 February 2010

Dear Madame President,

We are gravely concerned that despite a succession of investigations and reports from the UN bodies concerned with extrajudicial killings and the use of torture; despite the horrendous massacre last November in Maguindanao, perpetrated by a private army approved by your government, the climate of impunity in the Philippines continues.

On 6 February 42 health workers and doctors involved in a training seminar in Morong, Rizal were arrested by the Rizal PNP. We are informed that these arrests were made using bogus warrants, that the arrested health workers and doctors were blindfolded and taken to a military camp, Camp Pinpin, headquarters of the 202 Infantry Brigade of the AFP.

The military has claimed that these health workers and doctors are part of the communist New People’s Army.  This follows a pattern familiar to anyone who observes the current wave of human rights abuses by the security forces in the Philippines, in which people are labeled as being communist rebels before being imprisoned, tortured or even killed.

The security forces appear to be expanding their targets of professional groups, perhaps because many of these groups have been critical of corruption and abuse of power by your government. Journalists, lawyers, human rights workers and now health professionals have all been targeted.

We call for:

• the immediate release of all those who have been unlawfully detained
• their safety to be ensured by the Government
• their confiscated property to be restored to them
• an investigation by the Commission on Human Rights Group and independent human rights groups into the conduct of this police raid
• a cessation of this pattern of “red labeling” leading to abuses by the military

Yours sincerely

Rev Canon Barry Naylor

Urban Canon and Parish Priest of the Abbey and Holy Spirit Team Ministries, Leicester
President – CHRP Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines

Violation of Domicile; Destruction of property; Divestment of Property; Illegal Search and Seizure; Illegal Arrest; Illegal Detention; Threat, Harassment and Intimidation, Fear for Safety

Victim(s):
Illegally Arrested and illegally detained (partial list)

[Read more →]

abscbnNews.com, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/02/05/10/free-jonas-burgos-artists-restage-mrs-b

5 February 2010

MANILA, Philippines – The  Free Jonas Burgos Movement, together with Desaparecidos and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, will re-stage the monologue “Mrs. B,” February 5, 6, 12 and 13, 2010 at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Auditorium at EDSA cor. Quezon Avenue.

“Mrs. B,” is the story of Mrs. Edith Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos and wife of press freedom icon Joe Burgos Jr..

The play deals with a gamut of emotions a mother has to go through in looking for her missing son.

Seasoned actress-director Gina Alajar and Bibeth Orteza will alternately play the role of Mrs. B or Mrs. Edith Burgos.

Written by award-winning playwright Joi Barrios together with Grundy Constantino and Rowena Festin of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP), the monologue is directed by Soc Jose.

Edith’s son, Jonas, was tagged by the military as a member of the NPA.

He was allegedly abducted April 28, 2007 by four armed men and a woman while having lunch at the Hapag Kainan in Ever Gotesco.

Witnesses said that Jonas was dragged into a maroon Toyota Revo van with Plate number TAB 194. Earlier investigation of the PNP-CIDG traced the plate number to an impounded vehicle at the 56th IB headquarters Philippine Army Camp in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

Edith said Jonas is a member of Alyansang Magbubukid ng Bulacan and teaches organic farming to farmers.

Jonas will turned 40 years old this coming March 30.

For full pdf text of photo campaign, click here

Amnesty International: INDIVIDUAL AT RISK
James Balao, an activist working on Indigenous Peoples rights, was forcibly disappeared on 17 September 2008 in
Baguio City, Philippines. He was last seen near his home being roughly bundled by armed men into a white van.

One of the men who took him shouted at onlookers, and told them not to interfere becuase they were police officers
arresting James. A court has ordered the authorities to reveal where he is, and do no further harm to him, but has
not authorised his family to look for him in places of detention. He is one of hundreds of Filipinos who involuntarily
disappear and have not been found.

James, a member of the Indigenous Benguet Ibaloi tribe in the Cordillera region in Northern Philippines, dedicated
himself to research and fighting for Indigenous Peoples rights, particularly ancestral land rights. He helped write
articles in the Philippine Constitution pertaining to Indigenous Peoples. He is one of the founding members of the
Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), which today is an alliance of local organizations from the different Indigenous
tribes in the Cordillera region.

Take action!
Join the call to Surface James Balao and Stop EnforcedDisappearances in the Philippines.
Take photos of yourself or with friends, ideally in front of a local landmark to show international solidarity, holding
up a message such as: “End Enforced Disappearances — the world is watching” or “Where is James Balao?” The photos will be used as part of an international solidarity campaign on the one-year anniversary of James’ disappearance, as well as other campaigns against enforced or involuntary disappearances. Email photos tophilmasteam@gmail.com by 31 October 2009.

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-102-2009
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
<http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAC-102-2009>

21 August 2009

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the continued detention of 19 workers who are facing fabricated charges for holding a strike two years ago. They were, at the time, protesting the illegal termination, demanding payment of minimum wages and other lawful benefits from their employers. One of the workers has already died after contracting tuberculosis which was aggravated by poor prison condition. [Read more →]

Amnesty International urgent action on James Balao

PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 35/001/2009

23 January 2009

urther Information on UA 274/08 (ASA 35/007/2008 25 September 2008) and follow-up (ASA 35/009/2008 6 November 2008; ASA 35/010/2008 19 November 2008) – Enforced disappearance

PHILIPPINES James Balao (m), aged 47, Indigenous rights activist

On 19 January 2009, the Regional Trial Court in La Trinidad, Benguet province, ruled that the authorities must disclose the whereabouts of abducted Indigenous people’s rights activist James Balao immediately. However, the ruling does not grant permission for his relatives and their representatives to inspect places of detention where he may be held, nor does it compel the authorities to hand over documents relating to his case, or offer protection to those who witnessed his abduction. [Read more →]