Japan Group Releases Report on Killings in Philippines

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Philippine’s obligation under international law

International law provides legal instruments to oblige the Philippines to protect people in its territory from extrajudicial killings and investigate alleged human rights violations to prevent future crimes.

1.　Right to Life( ICCPR)

Under international law, states have a duty to respect the right to life. The Philippines is legally bound by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (herein after ICCPR) 159 as a member state160, which provides the right as follows: “[e]very human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life”(Article 6 (1))161. The ICCPR provides that no derogation from Article 6 may be made under this provision even in case of state emergency.162 The right to life cannot be derogated in any circumstances.163 The United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions articulates that internal political instability and any public emergency including a state of war and a threat of war may not be invoked as a justification of extrajudicial executions. 164

(1) Obligation to Respect the Right to Life

As a State Party of ICCPR, the government of the Philippines has a clear obligation not to breach any individual’s right of life under its jurisdiction.

President Arroyo declared an “all-out war policy” and regards many human rights defenders and social activists as “enemies of the state” or “CPP-NDF terrorists” in the context of the “war on terror”. However, the “war on terror” cannot be an excuse for a state to cease its human rights obligations.

UN Security Council Resolution No. 1456 provides that “[s]tates must ensure that any measure taken to combat terrorism comply with all their obligations under international law, and should adopt such measures in accordance with international law, in particular international human rights, refugee, and humanitarian law.”165

The state’s duty to respect human rights, especially the duty to respect the right to life, neither ceases nor could it be derogate from.166

In light of international humanitarian law, the State must not target any person whose activity is legal and who is not engaged in armed hostilities with the State.

As a State Party to the ICCPR, the State of the Philippines must prevent all state organs and public entities from any act which violate the right to life.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights held, in Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras167

as follows:

“・・any exercise of public power that violates the rights recognized by the Convention is illegal. Whenever a State organ, official or public entity violates one of those rights, this constitutes a failure of the duty to respect the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention.”

The State should order and train all the element of government, including all Battalions of the army and all the elements of the police not to violate the right to life, prevent all acts of extra judicial killings and abductions, investigate all the illegal acts thoroughly and punish those responsible within state agencies. Also, the State has the legal duty to refrain from all acts which would endanger the right to life of all the people within its jurisdiction, such as naming legal organizations and persons as “enemies of the state” which would, and did indeed, encourage the elements of the government, as well as having its policy to “neutralizing such enemies” since it would cause the most effective way of neutralization—extrajudicial-killing.