Amal’s reputation as a human rights lawyer

After reviewing documents and the cases filed against her, Amal has decided to take up the case of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The key to Amal’s thinking, it seems to me, is how to distinguish between accusations and the right of the accused to defend himself/herself against those accusations. Long before her engagement to George Clooney was announced, she was famous in her own right as an international lawyer. She has tackled high profile cases that other lawyers would not touch because of the political difficulties involved.

But the legal firm where she works, Doughty Chambers, is used to media attention and the work involved when they take up a case.

As I wrote in last week’s column, there were similarities between the case of Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Yevgenia Tymoshenko and former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Both were politically motivated.

Tymoshenko finished second in a very closely contested run-off of the Ukrainian presidential election. The winner was Viktor Yanukovych who immediately filed a number of criminal cases against her once he was in power. “On October 11, 2011, she was convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power, and sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay the state $188 million. The prosecution and conviction were viewed by many countries and international organizations – most prominently the European Union – as politically biased.” according to Wikipedia.

Tymoshenko was eventually released on Feb. 22, 2014 after the Ukrainian criminal code was revised. The new law effectively decriminalized the accusations for which she was imprisoned. Moreover she was officially rehabilitated on Feb. 28, 2014. The Supreme Court of Ukraine closed the case and found that “no crime was committed.”

Former President Arroyo has been imprisoned since 2010 even without any conviction. She is  seeking bail so she could get special medical treatment abroad because of her deteriorating health but this has been turned down. Recently the cases brought against her, such as the fertilizer scam, the PCSO were dismissed for lack of witnesses or evidence.

There are pictures of Amal during the Tymoshenko trial. She sat in court with star QC Geoffrey Robertson and Tymoshenko’s daughter.  We do not see such news in our local media so it came as a surprise that she would have anything to do with Arroyo’s imprisonment and Philippine politics. But the case of the former Philippine president comes within the purview of Amal’s expertise – “even political enemies have rights.” She has a right to seek medical attention wherever she thinks is best for her.

In a few days we will hear what Amal’s next move will be but in the meantime we should refrain from referring to her simply as George Clooney’s fiancée. She is much more than that.

Certainly what the engagement has done is make the concern for human rights more glamorous. That to me is the good news. Human rights can be terribly boring to ordinary readers but if you add the fillip that George Clooney’s girl friend is into human rights, it changes the paradigm. We will pay more attention to it from hereon.

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The defense of human rights comes under the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of which the Philippines is a signatory. Hence its laws and government actions must be consistent with its provisions. Unfortunately, most countries and that includes the Philippines take the view that due to particular conditions ie culture and governance, the Vienna Declaration is  not relevant to them.

Among other things, VDPA  provides that “All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis. While the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms.  That is Article 5 of the declaration. 

It will be interesting how it will be applied in the case of a former head of state being punished because she was a political enemy.

I would think that when the case of former President Gloria Arroyo comes under close scrutiny the decision could be expanded to other Filipino human rights victims. It isn’t just because she was former president but whether her continuous incarceration without any conviction can stand the test of what we agreed to when the country signed the 1993 Vienna Declaration.

“The Philippines has ratified numerous human rights instruments. Its Supreme Court has ruled in favor of domestic application of international human rights standards. The 1987 Philippine Constitution has provisions recognizing human rights, including the right to health,” adds the report.

Perhaps with the publicity gained by the Arroyo case because of Amal, justices and lawyers in the Philippines will be more careful in making decisions that do not conform to the universal declaration of human rights.

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Wars happen when there is incessant talk about war. If President Obama says his country’s goal is not to “contain or counter China” then we should contribute to acts that foster goodwill rather than provocative action in the guise of protecting our territory. Last Wednesday a group of us, Chinese and Filipinos did just that. In the group was Ambassador Alberto Encomienda, frustrated but still batting for the protection and management of the sea by the joint efforts of the peoples of countries that border it. Also there was Art Valdez, the intrepid adventurer-hero who climbed Mount Everest and built a balanghay, the boat used by our ancestors as they traveled and traded across the region. “The sea was the unifying factor in the region,” he said.

In the group too were community leaders of Paete who have invited the Chinese embassy officials to come to their town and see the handicrafts which made it famous – woodcarving and paper mache. It fit the conversation about balanghays and the management of the sea.

Paete was first populated by Malays, who came with their own version of the balanghay and settled there.