In Paper to UN Rights Council, Germans Decry Abuses

Misereor, Missio-München, VEM and Philippinenbüro im Asienhaus are therefore calling on the Human Rights Council:

• assess commitment no. 19 of the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the UN, given to the UNHRC on 18 April 2007, that it “condemns extrajudicial killings in the strongest terms and (…) shall continue to strongly address the issue,” (UN General Assembly A/61/882) particularly with regards to the involvement of military personnel in cases of extrajudicial killings.

• to urge the Philippine Government to implement the recommendations of Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston and the Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples Rodolfo Stavenhagen, who visited the Philippines in February 2007 and instruct Special Representative of the Secretary General for Human Rights Defenders Hina Jilani, the Special Rapporteur on Torture Dr Manfred Nowak, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the War on Terror Martin Scheinin and the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Ambeyi Ligabo, the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Leandro Despouy to investigate politically motivated human rights abuses.

• to strengthen the role of such representatives and independent mechanisms regarding the human rights situation in the Philippines in the light of the Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines and to integrate victims’ organisations and human rights organisations into the periodic review mechanism.

• ask the Philippine Government to present an accomplishment report regarding the 99 special courts installed to hear and decide cases of extrajudicial killings, with regards to commitment no. 20, that such courts shall “preferentially hear and expeditiously decide on such cases” (UN General Assembly A/61/882).

• to independently investigate serious discrepancies in the number of military personnel charged by the specially created Task Force Usig compared to cases filed with the Commission on Human Rights and other bodies, and thus establish whether the police and army have obstructed justice by blocking efforts to uncover abuse by security forces, in order to take account of commitment no. 20, “to uphold justice and strengthen efforts to address impunity.” (UN General Assembly A/61/882).

Misereor, Missio-München, VEM and Philippinenbüro im Asienhaus are therefore calling on the German Government:

• to assess the implications of the human rights situation in the Philippines on development cooperation through an inter-agency meeting including the Human Rights Officer of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Philippines Desk Officer as well as the Southeast Asia Department of the Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Philippines Desk of the European Commission, human rights organisations and the authors of this Aide Mémoire.

1 Philippine Daily Inquirer: “Arroyo to media: Gov’t to end killings, libel suits”, 22 June 2007
2 Task Force Usig Accomplishment Report, 30 August 2007
3 Ibid
4 See: Reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (June 2007), Karapatan (November 2007), PARRDS or Prof. Philip Alston (February 2007)
5 Masterlist of Cases filed with the CHR where Military Personnel are the alleged Perpetrators, Commission on Human Rights Computer Databank
6 Philippine Daily Inquirer, Palace rejects ‘unverifiable information’ on killings, 25 June 2007
7 Philippine Daily Inquirer, FQA on the Human Security Act, 15 July 2007.
8 SC Issues TRO against Arrest of Two Farmers by DND, AFP, Supreme Court Press Release, 24th August 2007

Forum Menschenrechte
Sekretariat: Beate Ziegler
Haus der Demokratie und Menschenrechte
Greifswalder Str. 4
10405 Berlin
Tel. 030-4202 1771
e-mail: kontakt@forum-menschenrechte.de
22 February 2008

Aide-Mémoire 7th Session of the UN Human Rights Council 3 – 28 March 2008