UN body urged to adopt int’l rights watchdog’s report on human rights in the Philippines
Manila, Philippines – “We fully support and welcome the result of the investigation of an international rights body about the human rights situation in the Philippines under President Duterte. It will strengthen the basis for other international rights mechanisms such as those from the United Nations (U.N.) to probe and to sanction if found guilty, the Duterte regime’s human rights abuses,” According to the militant fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA).
The fishers’ group was referring to the report of Investigate PH launched last Tuesday, an independent international human rights watchdog, which found that human rights in the Philippines has gotten worse in the past year.
In a statement, PAMALAKAYA said the report was “sufficient” for inter-governmental bodies, particularly the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), to launch their own investigations on the “worsening” human rights situation in the Philippines.
“We hope the UNHRC would adopt the report and pursue its official investigation on the rampant extrajudicial killings and other forms of human rights violations in the country,” Fernando Hicap, PAMALAKAYA National Chairperson said in a statement.
PAMALAKAYA said that the investigation it seeks to be initiated by the UN should include the now infamous “Bloody Sunday”, which refers to the simultaneous police raids which killed 9 activists in Southern Tagalog in the wee hours of March 7.
Among those killed by the police were the prominent activist leader in Cavite Emmanuel “Manny” Asuncion, and the Evangelista fisherfolk couple, Chai and Ariel, in Batangas.
“The massacre of 9 activists in Southern Tagalog must be raised and established to the international community as a politically-motivated and extrajudicial, perpetrated by no other than the murderous Duterte regime. Our appeal for the international body to intervene on the cases of human rights violations is part of our campaign and quest for justice,” ended Hicap. ###
