Amnesty Int'l to gov't leaders:

CEBU, Philippines – Invest more on human rightsNobel Peace Prize awardee Amnesty International called on officials of the Philippine government to invest more on human rights 

 “Millions of people are suffering from insecurity of people in their homes, schools, workplaces, on the streets and in their communities; injustice and indignity in the Philippines,” the human rights watchdog said in a forum here in Cebu City yesterday when it presented the Amnesty International 2009 Report: State of the World’s Human Rights.  

“In our country, we are confronted with many human rights problems such as enforced disappearance, extrajudicial executions, forced eviction and internal displacement. Extrajudicial killing of political activists, peasant leaders and journalists continue and most of the perpetrators are out walking freely on the streets,” said lawyer Doris Ramirez, chairperson of the Board of Amnesty International-Philippines.  

 “We fear that the perpetrators of the extrajudicial killing of two peasant leaders Rene Peñas in Bukidnon and Fermin Dolorico in Dumaguete and two journalists Antonio Castillo from Masbate and Crispin Perez, Jr. in Mindoro Occidental might again get away with their crimes.  Impunity encourages vigilante killings and extrajudicial executions,” Ramirez added.  

The New York-based Committee on the Protection of Journalists has said that the country is one of 14 countries where violence against press people often goes unsolved and unpunished.  

Philip Alston, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, who visited the Philippines in 2007, reported to the UN Human Rights Council this May that there were few effective investigations and prosecutions on perpetrators of extrajudicial killings here.  

Dr. Aurora Corazon Parong, director of Amnesty International-Philippines, also said that the looming human rights crisis in the world, which also affects the Philippines in more ways than one, undermines the rights of people especially the poor.  

She added that although the National Statistics Office said that the number of jobless went down to 7.5 percent in April this year, we are still talking of 2.83 million unemployed people.   Underemployment rose to 18.9 percent which means that we have 6.62 million people underemployed.  

“In real life, this means that millions of Filipinos do not have adequate income in order to buy food and medicines, have decent housing and send their children to school,” Parong said. 

“This is alarming!” she added. Further, Amnesty International leaders said that in the country, people suffer from deprivation of basic needs like food, housing, just wages and decent jobs and worst, these have resulted from government policies where the poor did not have any part in decision-making processes.  

The said report also dealt with the growing deprivation and discrimination, growing inequality, violence and repression across the world.  

It reported on indigenous peoples who continue to struggle for land rights while the Philippine government opened up lands for mining explorations and operations.   Amnesty International also reported on the more than 610,000 internally displaced people because of the exacerbation of the conflict in Mindanao.  

Worldwide, it is proposing a solution that aims to demand the leadership, accountability and transparency that are essential to end human rights abuses that keep people poor.   Solutions to global problems must integrate global values of human rights, the group added.  

“Leaders must invest in human rights. In the Philippines, people are already talking about the 2010 elections but the obligations of the government on human rights are not yet done,” Parong further said. — Johanna T. Natavio/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)