AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2007
The state of the world’s human rights
23 May 2007: AI Pilipinas – AI Annual Report Media Launch
Summary of Statements by Tim Parritt (AI Deputy Director, Asia Pacific Program) and Sergio Zamorano (AI International Mobilization Program)
TIME TO END THE POLITICS OF FEAR AND UPHOLD HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL
As Amnesty International launched its annual assessment of human rights worldwide, the organization decried how both governments and armed groups are deliberately fomenting fear to create an increasingly dangerous and polarized world.
Through fear-mongering and divisive policies, governments have undermined the rule of law and human rights, fed racism and xenophobia, divided communities and intensified inequalities.
At the global level
The ‘war on terror’ and the war in Iraq, with their catalogue of human rights abuses have created deep divisions that have cast a shadow on international relations, making it more difficult to resolve conflicts and protect civilians, commented Sergio Zamorano from AI’s International Mobilization Program.
Scarred by distrust and division, the international community was too often impotent or weak-willed in the face of major human crises in 2006, whether in forgotten conflicts like Chechnya, Colombia and Sri Lanka, or high profile ones in the Middle East.
Other unresolved human rights crises include the conflict in the Lebanon and the Occupied Territories, and the continuing suffering in Darfur.
In Asia Pacific
In the Asia Pacific region despite enviable rates of economic growth, the pressures of globalization and poverty including migration and the urban/rural divide, became more apparent than ever. Unemployment increased in rural areas of India, and in China estimated earnings in rural areas was four times less than urban areas, with life expectancy for urban residents 10-15 times higher than rural residents.
Across Asia Pacific some of the most marginalized groups, including indigenous communities, were displaced and their human rights abused by industrialization, resource extraction and development projects.
In addition migrant workers across the region and beyond often faced dangerous conditions of work and were particularly vulnerable to discrimination and other human rights abuses. Philippine and other migrant workers had their rights abused in the Middle East amid a mix of inadequate legal protection, exploitative employers and government complacency.
In the context of the ‘war on terror’, enforced disappearances continued in Pakistan, while in Afghanistan the Taleban deliberately targeted civilians in order to control areas under their influence. Violations committed by the US and Afghan forces in the name of the ‘war on terror’ added to resentment felt by many Afghans against the international security presence as justice and reparation for violations of international humanitarian law appeared out of reach. Beyond Guantanamo, the US detention centre in Bagram military base outside Kabul deserved international attention.
In the Philippines
Commenting on the national situation, Tim Parritt, Deputy Director of AI’s Asia Pacific Program, described how in the Philippines as elsewhere in the world, “The politics of fear fuelled a downward spiral of human rights abuse in which no right was sacrosanct and no person safe.”
In the Philippines, a national security agenda and calls for “all out war” led to the repeated labeling of civilians belonging to the legal political left as “enemies of the state” and members of “communist terrorist” armed groups. Such vilification and intimidation fuelled the conditions within which a pattern of political killings of leftist political activists, including marginalized community leaders, journalists and human rights workers, took place – at times with the involvement or complicity of military personnel.
“Increasing polarization and heightened fear about national security reduced the space for tolerance and dissent, and as human rights abuses persisted the prospects for a revival of the long-established peace process with communist armed groups became increasingly remote” said Tim Parritt.
Despite welcome government initiatives to address political killings, including the establishment of the Melo Commission of Inquiry and PNP Task Force Usig to investigate, only a limited number of people were arrested and few cases filed in court, and no one was held accountable for political killings stretching back to 2001.
“The political killings and a recent spate of electoral-related murders have again emphasized the urgent need for sustained political will to drive forward a substantive, long-term investment in a properly functioning system of rule of law” said Tim Parritt.
Reforms, including the strengthening of independent institutions able to conduct both impartial, effective investigation and speedy prosecutions leading to fair convictions, along with a beefed-up witness protection program, are essential to combat impunity, ensure accountability and safeguard human rights.
Amnesty International is calling on President Arroyo’s government and emerging new leaders in the Senate and Congress to seize this post-election opportunity to commit to a determined human rights agenda. A loud and clear signal must again be sent that the right to life of all in the Philippines will be protected, and that political killings and impunity will never again be tolerated.
The challenge is not only to ensure that all can cast their ballots free from fear at election time, but also to promote enduring good governance, an effective legal and judicial structure, the rule of law based on human rights, and the safe participation of a free press and vibrant civil society peacefully representing all voices in society.
In addition, as elsewhere in the region, the rights of the most vulnerable in society including the urban poor and indigenous communities must be protected as economic development projects leads to evictions, displacement from traditional lands and the loss of means of livelihood. Marginalized communities must be consulted and give consent to development projects that fundamentally effect their economic and social rights.
The challenges posed by a pattern of political killings, the lack of effective accountability, and the unequal impact of economic growth, demand responses based on universal human values – values that unite rather than divide. Principled leadership and the courage and commitment of civil society can overcome fear and address division. Hope is still very much alive.