HRW urges foreign gov’ts, donors to reassess assistance given to PHL

A researcher from the Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged foreign governments and donors to to reevaluate their engagements with the Philippine government to “ensure that any assistance they provide to the Philippine security forces and the judiciary emphasize accountability and due process.”

HRW Asia Division researcher Carlos Conde said that this would ensure that foreign assistance “do not in any way fund or enable any elements of the military and the police implicated in human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killing.”

Conde issued the statement in reaction to the latest killing of Catholic priest Fr. Richmond Nilo who was gunned down on June 10 by motorcycle-riding suspects and journalist Dennis Denora who was also shot dead by motorcycle-riding suspects last June 7.

He said that the latest killings as well as reported attacks against peasants and members of tribal communities are a “matter of grave concern.”

“These killings, alongside the thousands of deaths in the ‘drug war,’ are grim reminders of the vulnerability of the poor and those who speak out for their rights and against the deadly extrajudicial violence that Philippine authorities are apparently unwilling or unable to either stop or provide meaning accountability for,” Conde said.

“These killings also underscore the need for international accountability mechanisms — such as those within the UN system — to intensify their response to the worsening human rights catastrophe in the Philippines,” he added. — Marlly Rome Bondoc/MDM, GMA News