Assault on human rights defenders in PHL hits crisis point —TFDP

The attack on human rights defenders in the country has already reached a crisis point, the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines said as it marked the 71st anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) last Tuesday, December 10.

In a statement, the TFDP warned, "Human rights defenders, environmental activists, indigenous peoples rights defenders, lawyers, and journalists in the country are facing unprecedented levels of persecution."

On December 11, the TFDP,  a mission partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), launched its Human Rights Defenders Summit 2019 in Cebu City, in an effort to pressure the government to end assaults on human rights advocates.

Human Rights Defenders' Summit 2019 in Cebu City. --TFDP

At the summit, participating groups claimed that the "situation of human rights defenders in the country is becoming increasingly challenging as shown in various reports from regional and international human rights organizations, including the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia), Global Witness, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Organization Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT), International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and Front Line Defenders."

They cited "democratic backsliding, deterioration of the quality of democracy, and shrinking democratic space" as among the defining features of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.

In July 2016, when Duterte assumed presidency and started his campaign against illegal drugs through the Police's "Oplan Double Barrel", TFDP responded by documenting the cases of extra-judicial killings and other human rights violations related to government’s war on drugs.

"Authorities admit 6,600 people have been killed over the last three years though other groups estimate as many as 29,000 have lost their lives. The authorities claim that those killed fought back or resisted arrest (or 'nanlaban' ignoring case after case in which witnesses say suspects were summarily executed," the TFD said.

"On many occasions, Duterte publicly voiced his blatant disregard for human rights in relation to his 'war on drugs' and repeatedly threatened to kill human rights activists (defenders)," the TFDP added.

“What we are witnessing today here in Visayas, based on our documentation, from 2018 to  December 2019, there are 104 documented cases of human rights violations, broken down as follows:

• 31 cases are related to harassment, intimidation, vilification, and killings of human rights defenders including the killing of human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos on 6 November 2018 in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, and red-tagging of our organization by authorities in Bacolod City;
• "58 cases related to government’s war on drugs while 15 are politically motivated cases.”

Moreover, the TFDP said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Memorandum Circular No. 15 (s. 2018) mandates all non-profit organizations in the Philippines to comply with arbitrary and invasive registration requirements.

This SEC memorandum comes amid increasing government pressure on civil society, and allegations of surveillance targeting human rights defenders. The memorandum will further legitimize the invasion of privacy of individuals, and hinder the capacity of organizations to do their legitimate human rights work.

"TFDP demands that the government implement what they committed to when the United Nations adopted the Declaration on human rights defenders in 1998."

The Declaration calls on states to recognize the key role and contribution of those who defend human rights and to establish effective measures to protect them such as enactment of the Human Rights Defenders Protection Law, it added.

“We are living in dangerous times again and many seem not to bother nor care that the whimsical and capricious display of vindictiveness of Duterte is eating the nation's soul and trampling on people's rights,” said Fr. Christian Buenafe, O.Carm, chairperson of TFDP.

What the martial law experience taught us is that when “injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty,” TFDP's Fr. Buenafe said. —Jerbert Briola/LBG, GMA News

***

TFDP is also a member of the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA), Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia), and SOS Torture Network of the World Organization Against Torture.