Brazen massacre
Brazen massacre
Law Union of Ontario
The Law Union of Ontario joins with Lawyers Rights Watch Canada and the Asian Legal Resource Centre in condemning the brazen massacre of two Philippine lawyers, Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo and 55 others on November 23, 2009 in Maguindanao Province. According to Reporters without Borders, at least 22 journalists were killed in the attack, the largest killing of journalists in a single day.
These latest killings serve to underscore the culture of impunity around the murder of human rights workers, lawyers, journalists and other activists that was identified as existing in the Philippines following an investigation in 2007 by Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur for extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions. This culture of impunity and the rise of extra-judicial executions of human rights activists and political dissidents was also identified by the Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights in their report following a human rights monitoring mission in 2006. The Law Union of Ontario participated in this 2006 mission of the PCTFHR.
The Law Union of Ontario adopts the November 25, 2009 statement of LWRC and the ALRC, attached. The LUO joins the LRWC and ALRC in calling upon the international community to condemn the massacre of 57 people that has left members the human rights community around the world in shock.
The Law Union also joins the LRWC and ALRC in calling upon the international community to insist on and to take all measure to ensure:
1. The appointment of a team of professional investigators from outside the Philippines;
a) qualified in the various necessary aspects of criminal investigations,
b) absolutely independent of the Arroyo regime; and
c) authorized to compel production of evidence and examine witnesses; and,
d) mandated to conduct a thorough, transparent and accountable inquiry into the 57 murders that occurred on November 23, 2009; and.
e) mandated to make recommendations for the prosecution of the suspected perpetrators identified by the inquiry and to make recommendations of alternatives in the event that the Philippine courts are unable or unwilling to proceed with the prosecutions recommended.
2. Monitor the safety of others likely to be under attack.
(December 7, 2009, Toronto, Ontario)
Comments (1)