Switzerland to support ‘Martial Law Files Project’

MANILA, Philippines - An agreement was signed yesterday between the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the embassy of Switzerland for technical support for the CHR’s “Martial Law Files Project,” consisting of files and records of martial law victims and survivors.

Signing the agreement during the celebration of International Human Rights Day were CHR chair Loretta Ann Rosales and Swiss Ambassador Ivo Sieber.

Rosales said they launched the Martial Law Files Project on Sept. 21, 2011 with different government and non-government organizations.

“Collation of the commission’s in-house files from 15 regional offices generated a total 6,090 cases of incidents filed during the period covering 1972 to 1986 and would need physical transporting, organizing, sorting, cataloguing, indexing, digitization, and archiving,” she said.

The security sector, particularly the Department of National Defense, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Intelligence Service of the AFP have already turned over initial batches of declassified martial law files and documents to the CHR, she added. Rosales said the Swiss embassy has signified interest to support the undertakings of the Martial Law Files Project.

“They want to help establish an accurate, complete historical record of human-rights violations and abuses during that period,” she said.

Under the agreement, the Swiss embassy commits to provide technical and financial support to the CHR for the benefit of the Martial Law Files Project.