|
Statements of AFAD
Proceedings:
Articles on the Proceedings on the AFAD Leadership Training
Jan. 27 - 31, 2003, Philippines
AFAD Second Congress Resolutions
August 2003
Remembering Munir
AFAD Second Congress
August 26-30, 2003 in Bangkok, Thailand
AFAD’s Mid-Year Report
Ding Zilin's
Message To
Hong Kong
Again, The KONTRAS – IKOHI Office Was Attacked
“ If they are dead, tell us”!
My sons, where are they? |
Oral Intervention
By : Philippine Human Rights Information Center
Delivered by: Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso
Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
on the occasion of the session
of the United Nations Human Rights Council
March 14, 2008
Mr. President,
Philrights takes this opportunity to commend the chair of the United Nations Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID) for presenting a global picture of the phenomenon of enforced disappearances. It takes cognizance of the Working Group's concern on the spate of enforced disappearances in the Philippines through the cases it recently received and the still unresolved cases of past administrations. Such an alarming situation has prompted the UNWGEID to request for a second visit to our country.
In a meeting between the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on August 29, 2001, Mrs. Arroyo promised that there would be no case of enforced disappearance during her administration. On the contrary, 186* cases of enforced disappearances occurred since 2001. This phenomenon was confirmed by the Report of Mr. Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings on his visit to the country in February 2007. In response, the Supreme Court convened a National Consultative Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances in July 2007 and is presently conducting series of conferences on the issue.
Human rights organizations encounter difficulties in investigation and prosecution . Witnesses and even judges fear for their lives. The traumatic effects of the violations are aggravated by the fear about the security of both the disappeared persons and those who are searching for the victims. Labeling persons and groups as being "leftists, communists, enemies of state" all the more make people vulnerable to attacks.
This dark night of the disappeared is a stark contrast to the pledges made by the Philippine Government to the UN Human Rights Council. While on October 24, 2007, it promulgated the Writ of Amparo ensuring protection for victims and obliging government agencies to conduct all efforts to find the victims, the government has still to prove the effectiveness of this instrument through its full implementation.
The first Asian country to have drafted a bill criminalizing enforced disappearances, the Philippines has failed to have this thirteen-year old draft enacted into law despite years of lobbying by the families of the victims. Moreover, it still has to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
The Philippine government has still to fully update the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on its implementation of the latter's recommendation during its visit in 1990. Significant to note is that it has not yet responded to the United Nation's Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances' request for a second visit.
Mr. President, we call on the Philippine government to vigorously take all steps necessary to resolve outstanding cases and prevent future ones from happening.
We likewise appeal to our government and all member-states of the United Nations to ensure the immediate entry into force of the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and enact enabling mechanisms to ensure implementation.
Finally, Mr. President, we would like to support the retention and strengthening of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances whose mandate is being reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council.
Thank your very much.
|