Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

PHILIPPINES: The Killings Must Stop

Movements (Europe) | 02.10.2006 11:23 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Social Struggles | World

This is a Statement by European Church and Civil Society Organisations regarding the recent upsurge of political killings in the Philippines.


We are concerned about the upsurge of politically motivated killings and the constant deterioration of the human rights situation in the Philippines in recent years. Amnesty International informs that at least 51 political killings took place in the first half of 2006, compared to the 66 killings recorded in the whole of 2005. Since March 2006 we received an increasing number of reports on political killings – at times on a daily basis. We are particularly worried about the killings representing a pattern to target a broad range of critical and non-violent people involved in local or national politics.

We recognise the government’s initiative to increase efforts towards investigations into a number of assassinations. We stress the need to sustain these efforts, to investigate all political killings and to prosecute the perpetrators and their accomplices and to give justice to the victims and their families in order to prevent further escalation and grievance. We support civil society initiatives and efforts to press for investigations of political killings and human rights abuses.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
* We also condemn the violence and killings of the armed opposition groups. Their doings should however not be used as a justification for human rights violations and killings committed by paramilitary forces and the government. The use of paramilitary forces in the Philippine government’s all-out war against the New People’s Army (NPA) and other armed left groups as well as the spread of armed paramilitaries is particularly worrying. The decision of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) leadership to set up armed partisan forces counterattacking operatives and masterminds of the killings does also cause great concern. We believe that these developments will lead to further deterioration of the human rights situation, severely threatening those engaged in non-violent, critical and investigative forms of civil and political activism *
__________________________________________________________________________________________

We call on all government departments concerned, especially the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Philippine National Police (PNP), to investigate all killings with a political background, prosecute the perpetrators and their accomplices and to deliver justice to the victims and their families.

We call for the implementation of Republic Act 6981, providing witness protection, security and protection for activists facing death-threats.

We call for an independent investigation into the Department of Defence and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to investigate allegations concerning the use of political assassination as a counter-insurgency strategy.

We call on both the government and the CPP to continue serious peace negotiations and to respect human rights. We call on the armed opposition groups to refrain from the use of political killings.

We call our own governments and the United Nations (UN) to pay attention to these alarming developments and to urge the Philippine government to end the killings and guarantee justice for all victims.

Amnesty International German Section, Germany
Asia Foundation, Germany
Asia House, Germany
Babaylan, The Philippine Women’s Network in Europe, Germany
Babaylanes, Germany
Bayanihan - Philippine Women’s Center, Netherlands
Bishop Muskens of the Diocese of Breda, Netherlands
Mr. Harry van Bommel, Member of Parliament for the Socialist Party, Netherlands
South-North Exchange of Peoples Organizations (BOND), Belgium
Prof. Theo van Boven, Professor of International Law, University of Maastricht, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Former Director of the UN Human Rights Division, Netherlands
Bread for the World, Germany
Ms. Brid Brennan, Transnational Institute, Netherlands
Broederlijk Delen, Belgium
Bundeskoordination Internationalismus (BUKO), Germany
Christian Aid, United Kingdom
Church Development Service (EED), Germany
CMC Mensen met een missie, Dutch Catholic Missionary Development Agency, Netherlands
11.11.11 - Coalition of the Flemish North-South Movement, Belgium
Conference of Religious in the Netherlands (KNR), Netherlands
CORDAID, Netherlands
Critical Ecology - Institute of Applied Cultural Research, Germany
Mr. Boris Dittrich, Member of Parliament for the Democrats ’66, Netherlands
Rev. Dr. Markus Dröge, Conference Minister of Koblenz District Conference, Germany
Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE), Belgium
Ms. Angelien Eijsink, Member of Parliament for the Social Democratic Party (PvdA), Netherlands
Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Germany
Evangelical Church of Westphalia, Germany Philippine Solidarity Group (FGN), Netherlands
Ms. Thea Fierens, Member of Parliament for the Social Democratic Party (PvdA), Netherlands
Finnish Asiatic Society, Finland
Finnish Philippine Society, Finland
Prof. Kees Flinterman, Professor of Human Rights, University of Utrecht, Netherlands
Prof. Bas de Gaay Fortman, Professor of Political Economy of Human Rights, University of Utrecht, Netherlands
Ms. Cecilia Jimenez, Geneva Forum for Philippine Concerns (GFPC), Switzerland
Femke Halsema, Farah Karimi, Wijnand Duyverdak, Ineke van Gent, Nevin Özütok, Paul Jongbloed, Members of Parliament, Green Left Party, Netherlands
Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO), Netherlands
Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM), Netherlands
International Peace Observers Network (IPON), Germany
Justitia et Pax, Netherlands
Prof. Menno T. Kamminga, Professor of
International Law, Director - Maastricht
Centre for Human Rights, University of Maastricht, Netherlands
Karl Kübel Foundation, Germany
Kindernothilfe (KNH), Germany
Philippine-European Solidarity Center (KSP), Netherlands
Foundation Lawyers for Lawyers, Netherlands
Misereor, Germany
Missio-Munich, Germany
Missionszentrale der Franziskaner (MZF), Germany
Netherlands Humanistic Committee on Human Rights (HOM), Netherlands
Mr. Nonoi Hacbang, Commission for Filipino Migrant Workers (CFAW), Netherlands
Office of Mission, Ecumenism and Global Responsibility of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, Germany
One World Action, United Kingdom
One World Network Network Northrhine-Westfalia, Germany
Oxfam Novib, Netherlands
Partnership Third World, Germany
Pax Christi German Section, Germany
Pax Christi International, Belgium
Philippinenbüro, Germany
Philippine Solidarity Group- Protestant
Church of Jülich, Germany
Philippine Indigenous People’s Links, United Kingdom
ProMISPA Friends of the Philippines, Germany
Reporters Without Borders, International
Dr. Frithjof Schmidt, Member of the European Parliament, Germany
Ms. Dorothea Seeliger, Commissioner on Human Rights, Koblenz Church District Conference, Germany
Southeast Asia Information Office, Germany Ms. Katharina Stahlenbrecher, Asia
Working Group, Stiftung Umverteilen !, Germany
Terre des Femmes, Germany
Terre des Hommes, Germany
Task Force Carabao, Germany
Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland (SASK), Finland
United Evangelical Mission (VEM/UEM), Germany
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG), United Kingdom
Ms. Pietje Vervest, Transnational Institute, Netherlands
Dr. Rainer Werning, Political Scientist and Author, Germany Workers´ Educational Association of Finland, Finland
XminusY Solidarity Fund, Netherland

Sunday, 24th September, 2006

Movements (Europe)
- Homepage: http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article3311

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech