Philippine human rights advocates bring concerns to Canada in cross-country tour

Philippine human rights advocates bring concerns to Canada in cross-country tour

TORONTO– Three human rights advocates from the Philippines will be touring across Canada from March 27th until April 16th to urge the Canadian Government and Canadians to support their demands that the Philippine Government take immediate steps to resolve the grave human rights situation. The visiting delegation features the General Secretary of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Bishop Reuel Marigza, community health worker and former political prisoner, Dr. Merry Mia Clamor, and Angelina Bisuña Ipong, the coordinator of Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainee Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto and former political prisoner.

The delegation will be speaking at a public forum in Toronto on Saturday, March 31st at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (Rm. 5-250, 252 Bloor St.) from 3-5pm.

The Philippine Consul General Pedro Chan has been invited to respond to their presentations. In Ottawa, they will be testifying at the House of Commons’ Subcommittee on International Human Rights, meeting with the Department of Foreign Affairs, speaking to Members of Parliament and presenting at public forums.

This tour of Philippine human rights defenders in Canada is part of an international effort organized in preparation for the upcoming UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session in May 2012. The human rights record of the Philippines will be under examination and member states to the UN, such as Canada, will have the opportunity to recommend remedial action.

The three human rights defenders will underscore the reality that despite the inauguration of the new administration of Aquino III in 2010, extrajudicial killings of human rights defenders, clergy members, artists, students, lawyers, teachers, doctors and others are happening at an alarming average rate of one killing per week, while over 347 political prisoners continue to be detained, subjected to torture within a climate of impunity.

Communities where there is heavy foreign investment, such as those where Canadian mining companies operate, are being militarized to ensure business interests are not disrupted by concerned community members who want their rights to livelihood, health, clean water and a secure home respected.

The delegation provides personal perspectives on the current human rights concerns in the Philippines. First-hand accounts of the violence endured by women detainees will be provided by two former political prisoners, Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor and Ms. Angelina Bisuña Ipong, who were subjected to torture, sexual harassment and physical abuse during incarceration (in 2010 and 2005-11, respectively). Both will discuss the tactics used by the state to stifle their voices and those of other courageous human rights defenders, who nevertheless continue to speak out for justice and genuine social change.

BISHOP REUEL MARIGZA

Bishop Marigza will expose the determined efforts he has initiated through the United Church of Christ in the Philippines to hold former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other top military officials legally accountable for their responsibility in human rights violations. The suit cites 28 cases of UCCP members, lay leaders and ministers having been killed extra-judicially, abducted and tortured, arrested, forcibly disappeared and believed killed, or surviving attempted killing.

Their experiences and concerns are echoed by Amnesty International, in a recent submission to the UN Human Rights Council which criticizes the Philippine Government for its lack of action to end the continuing climate of impunity, as well as the terrifying climate of militarization perpetuated by President Aquino’s counterinsurgency program, Operation Plan Bayanihan.

DR. MERRY MIA-CLAMOR

Before coming to Canada, delegates from the “Philippine UPR Watch 2012” travelled to Europe and the USA, meeting with parliamentarians and the public. With this worldwide initiative, they aim to raise international awareness about the human rights situation under the current administration of President Aquino III, publicize recommendations to address these rights violations, and urge country delegations to the UN to echo their concerns in the recommendations submitted to the Human Rights Council during the Philippine UPR.

The tour of Bishop Marigza, Dr. Clamor and Ms. Ipong is jointly organized by the Ecumenical Voice for Peace and Human Rights in the Philippines (representing a broad coalition of churches and NGOs) and the Asia Pacific Forum (representing the Asia Programs of North American churches). Locally, the visit is coordinated through the Stop the Killings Network – Canada (STKN), a network of Canadian churches, human rights and development organizations and Filipino community groups campaigning to end the political killings of human rights defenders and activists in the Philippines since 2001.

ANGIE IPONG

After stopping in Toronto and Ottawa, the delegation will travel to Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Victoria. In each of these cities, local Philippine migrant and solidarity communities are preparing to host the three human rights defenders, and organizing public forums. According to Bern Jagunos, Program Coordinator of the Asia Pacific Partnerships at the United Church of Canada, “For too many years, the public demands to end extrajudicial killings and all forms of human rights violations in the Philippines have fallen on deaf ears. This delegation of courageous human rights defenders sheds light on the pervading climate of impunity in the Philippines. Now is the time for Canadians to stand in solidarity; to support the demands of victims of human rights violations and their families for justice and an end to the perpetuation of state-imposed violence in the Philippines”.

(PRESS RELEASE)