ANALYSIS
Despite Election of Philippines to 2 UN Bodies:
No Exoneration of Bleak Human Rights Record
When a country fails in
its obligation to protect the lives of human rights defenders but is
elected to such a prestigious UN body, it dishonors the UN as an
institution and makes a mockery of its ability to promote and protect
human rights.
By Asian Human
Rights Commission (AHRC)
Posted by Bulatlat
On November 3, the
media reported that the Philippines has been elected to a seat on the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main organs of the United
Nations (UN). Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr., permanent representative of the
Philippines to the UN, quickly praised the overwhelming number of votes
received by the Philippines – 188 out of 192 votes cast – as it “mirrors
the excellent standing of the Philippines in the United Nations.”
This is yet another
UN post the Philippines has attained this year following its election to
the Human Rights Council in May.
While the government, in particular the Philippine mission in New York,
may have reason to celebrate this “victory,” the victims of human rights
violations and their families in the Philippines must feel otherwise, for
the government’s election to the UN bodies neither changes nor exonerates
its bleak human rights record at home.
What is there to celebrate, for instance, if those serving the poor in the
Philippines are being killed and harassed almost daily? What “excellent
standing” is there if the government cannot protect activists seeking
genuine land reform, decent wages and humane working conditions for the
Filipino people, and if those defending urban settlers from illegal and
violent demolitions and workers’ rights feel that their lives are
threatened? Based on this record, what credibility can the Philippine
government have on the new UN body to which it has just been elected?
As this statement is being written, another peasant activist, Emerlito
Dizon, was brutally killed in his house in Palawig, Zambales on November
2; and on October 30, a peasant activist seeking genuine land reform was
wounded in a shooting in Balas, Iloilo. The latter shooting took place
after the victim and his fellow villagers were attacked by armed thugs of
an influential landlord who forced them to evacuate the disputed land they
were occupying. These continuing attacks against peasant activists add to
the increasing incidences of extrajudicial killings and violence in the
country.
Violence against workers fighting for their rights is also excessive. The
use of violence allegedly by Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)
security forces continues, for example, against two labor unions inside
the Cavite Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) in Rosario, Cavite since they
went on strike on September 25. The strikers are merely seeking decent
wages, improved benefits and better working conditions. They are trying to
maintain their picket line to assert their right to strike. However, they
are being denied access to their picket line, sanctioned with a food
blockade, illegally dismissed from work and continually threatened with
violent dispersals.
It is also in Cavite where labor leader Diosdado Fortuna (or “Ka Fort”)
was fatally shot and killed in September 2005. In May this year, another
labor leader, Gerardo Cristobal, survived an ambush allegedly by police
officers. The violence against them, and all the hundreds of activists
killed all over the country in recent times, are related to their struggle
to serve the poor, to assert their own rights and to defend human rights.
These are a fraction of the enormous number of examples of the
government’s excessive failure in upholding people’s economic and social
rights in the Philippines as well as their civil and political rights.
Among the critical functions of ECOSOC members, according to Baja, is to
participate in policy reviews, policy dialogues and to make
recommendations on issues of economic and social developments as well work
toward the implementation of international development goals. What
credibility though does the Philippine government have in performing these
tasks given its bleak human rights record, including the protection of its
people’s economic and social rights? Is it not essential that in order to
perform this duty, ECOSOC members must respect and uphold the
implementation of human rights recognized in international covenants and
conventions?
While the government’s election to ECOSOC deserves strong opposition and
condemnation, it also indicates the poor understanding, and perhaps even
indifference, by UN member-states to the human rights records of those
they select for such important positions in the UN and, in addition, the
inability of the Filipino people to expose the government’s poor human
rights record.
These developments
indicate the need to create a stronger movement among the Filipino people
and the international community to expose government atrocities, hoping
that this awareness will influence the international community, in
particular the UN, not to elect countries with poor human rights records
to such important bodies.
In closing, the government’s election to ECOSOC must not be used to cover
up and dismiss the Philippine government’s frequent and excessive
violation of human rights, including the Filipino people’s economic and
social rights. When a country that fails in its obligation to protect the
lives of human rights defenders is elected to such a prestigious UN body,
it dishonors the UN as an institution and makes a mockery of its ability
to promote and protect human rights.
Moreover, it puts at
further risk the lives of human rights defenders in the Philippines and
shows a lack of respect for the country’s poor. Posted by Bulatlat
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