Statement Concerning the Response of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to the Petition on the Political Killings in the Philippines

Statement Concerning the Response of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to the Petition on the Political Killings in the Philippines

By Members of Stop the Killing Network (Canada)

Members of Stop the Killings Network (Canada) wish to thank The Hon. Peter MacKay, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, for responding to the Petition on the Political Killings in the Philippines. The petition was signed by more than 5,000 Canadians and filed at the House of Commons in June 2007 by twelve Members of Parliament from all political parties.

We welcome the statement of the Canadian Government’s deep concern about the extrajudicial killings expressed by the Minister in his Response, by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deepak Obrai, who rose in the House of Commons on June 11 and by Steven Rheault-Kihara, Senior Political Officer at the Embassy of Canada who in March 2007 publicly condemned the killings and called on Philippine authorities to arrest, prosecute and punish those responsible for the extrajudicial killings. Having appealed for action by our Government since the killings started in 2001, we are pleased that Canada has finally broken its silence.

While these statements are a step in responding to the crisis of the extrajudicial killings and carrying out Canada’s moral responsibility to protect vulnerable people, they are disappointing for the following reasons:

1. Canada’s institution-building initiatives do not mitigate the imminent threat and alleviate the immediate violence suffered by the individuals who are the target of extrajudicial killing
The building of human rights institutions is important, but the process is long and slow. The individuals who face the threat of extrajudicial killing require and are entitled to protection now. While continuing to assist in developing capacities for human rights protection, Canada must take specific measures designed to help mitigate the imminent threat and alleviate the immediate violence suffered by the vulnerable people. Canada must take specific actions to help bring about a quick and adequate resolution to the political killings.

2. Canada’s initiatives thus far do not mitigate the immediate and direct roots of the political killings.
The UN Special Rapporteur, Mr. Philip Alston, who conducted a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in February 2007 identified two causes of the political killings: 1) ‘vilification’, ‘labeling’, or guilt by association”, which “involves the characterization of most groups on the left of the political spectrum as ‘front organizations’ for armed groups whose aim is to destroy democracy” thereby rendering such groups to be “accordingly considered to be legitimate targets; and 2) the extent to which aspects of the Government’s counter-insurgency strategy encourage or facilitate the extrajudicial killings of activists and other ‘enemies’ in certain circumstances.”

Mr. Alston concluded that real progress in ending the killing will be made only if and when “there is a fundamental change of heart on the part of the military or the emergence of civilian resolve to compel the military to change its ways.”

3. The Minister’s statement of confidence in the commitment of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “to put an end to the extrajudicial killings” is not supported by the findings of the Special Rapporteur.
The Minister points to the recent measures announced by President Arroyo, including the creation of special courts to prosecute those responsible for the killings and strengthened witness protection programs. According to the Rapporteur, while these measures may partly resolve the killings, “the strong risk is that these measures will treat only some of the symptoms of the crisis, and will fail to address meaningfully two of the most important underlying causes of a great many of the killings.”
Human Rights Watch recently reported that not one of the hundred cases it investigated in 2006 has been successfully prosecuted.

The counter-insurgency strategy is conducted with the sanction and under the leadership of the President of the Philippines, who is also the Commander in Chief of the army. The political killings will not be resolved without strong pressure on President Arroyo to change her government’s counter-insurgency strategy, and to command the military to stop its targeting of civilians.

We believe that Canada should NOT continue providing support to the Government of President Arroyo without demanding tangible proofs of intent and steps to compel the military to change its counter-insurgency practices.

We, therefore, reiterate our calls on the Canadian Government

a) to impose strong measures on the Philippines, including the immediate suspension of bilateral assistance, moratorium on new bilateral projects, diplomatic restrictions and trade and investment sanctions in order to press President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to take specific actions to end the extrajudicial killings, including those recommended by the Special Rapporteur, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations:

• immediately issue an Executive Order to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police prohibiting the extrajudicial killing of any person

• immediately direct the Armed Forces, National Police and all other executive agencies to desist from statements that incite or encourage extrajudicial executions, such as the characterizing of numerous civil society organizations as fronts of the New People’s Army making them valid targets of attack

• immediately initiate vigorous investigation and prosecution of the members of the security forces implicated in the killings

• immediately release Rev. Berlin Guerrero and instruct the military to disclose the whereabouts of Jonas Burgos and the individuals who have been abducted by suspected state agents

• immediately resume the Peace Talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front

b) to conduct a review of Canada’s relations with the Government of the Philippines. Such review would focus on Canada’s economic assistance, cooperation in national security and anti-terrorism programs, and trade and corporate investment, specifically pertaining to mining and other extractive industries, to determine how these contribute to the erosion of human rights;

c) to invite members of Stop the Killings Network, other civil society organizations and members of the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights to a Roundtable to undertake a critical examination of the human rights performance of the Philippine Government and input into Canada’s intervention at the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines in February 2008.

Members of Stop the Killing Network (Canada): The United Church of Canada, Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, KAIROS, Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, Centre for Philippine Concerns – Montreal, PINAY, Ottawa Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Philippine Network for Justice and Peace, Fellow of the Canada Chair on Asian Research-Department of Political Science at the University of Montreal, Community Alliance for Social Justice