UN probe of RP killings
I hail the decision of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights to investigate the killings of political activists, journalists, and lawyers in the.
It is high time that an independent, highly respected international organization looked into the problem and shamed the Arroyo administration into compliance with the at least seven treaties on human rights to which it is a signatory and as newly appointed member of the UN Human Rights Council.
We in the political opposition don’t want to prejudge the result of the investigation, but the Melo Commission in its recent report blamed most of the killings and disappearances on the police and the military. We maintain that the inability of this administration to extend protection to its citizens proves its illegitimacy.
According to Karapatan, a total of 830 political activists, human rights workers, trade union members, lawyers and judges have been killed so far. A report of the United Kingdom-based Amnesty International, the killings, mostly carried out by unidentified men who shoot the victims before escaping on a motorcycle, have very rarely led to the arrest and prosecution.
To this day, the killings continue. As a result, Japan, Australia, England and countries in the European Union are reluctant to extend economic aid to the Philippines. We demand that the administration stop the human rights violations. It is not only human lives that are at stake but also democracy itself.
