Dr. Chaloka Beyani, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, with human rights advocates, including a lumad chieftain from Davao del Norte, at a meeting in Quezon City. The UN expert is in the country for a 10-day official visit. (photo courtesy of Karapatan)
A lumad chieftain from Davao del Norte and human
rights groups briefed the United Nations’ expert on internal refugees on
Tuesday on what they said is the widespread forced evacuation of peasants and
indigenous people due to militarization.
Dr. Chaloka Beyani, the special rapporteur on the human
rights of IDPs, met with the rights groups led by Karapatan shortly after
arriving in the country Tuesday for a 10-day official visit on the government’s
invitation.
“The Philippines has a range of internal displacement
issues, which include those caused in 2013 by the devastation wreaked by
typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) where significant progress has been made, as well as
other displacement situations where challenges remain to be addressed,” Beyani
was quoted as saying in a statement released by the UN information center in
Manila to announce his arrival.
“It is my intention to assist in finding solutions as well
as to share experiences with the government,” he added.
Beyani is also scheduled to present his preliminary findings
and recommendations at a media briefing on July 31.
The human rights group Karapatan said it had requested the
meeting with Beyani when it first met him at the UN Human Rights Council
session in Geneva, Switzerland in June last year.
At the meeting, tribal chieftain Tungig Mansimoy-at, an
evacuee from Talaingod, Davao del Norte, told Beyani about the plight of lumad
refugees and of how soldiers continue to occupy their hinterland
communities and schools, which the military has tagged “NPA (New People’s Army)
schools,” Karapatan said.
Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said they have
so far documented 60,155 victims of forced evacuations under the Aquino
administration, including 650 lumad who have sought sanctuary at the
United Church of Christ in the Philippines
compound in Davao
City
She said more than half the evacuees are from five villages
in Talaingod “who decided to leave their communities when soldiers started to
recruit them into the Alamara, a paramilitary group attached to the 84th
Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army and the 68th IB-PA.”
“The other evacuees who are in Davao
City came from Kapalong, Davao del
Norte and from the province
of Bukidnon
Aside from this, Karaptan said 441 members of the Blaan
tribe in Sarangani fled their homes from May to June “due to bombing, torture
and interrogation, and food blockade,” while from January to March, “almost a
thousand individuals from 15 villages in Agusan del Sur also left their homes
due to military operations and encampment in lumad schools run by the
Rural Missionaries of the Philippines.”
“Ironically, the leaders of organizations who are helping
the evacuees and campaigning for the pullout of the military from the
communities now face criminal charges in court,” Palabay said. “Human rights
workers, religious, children’s rights advocates, peasant and indigenous leaders
were charged with kidnapping, illegal detention and human trafficking.”
She claimed the government’s counterinsurgency program,
Oplan Bayanihan, deliberately targets lumad and peasant
communities, with soldiers and militias committing “numerous cases of
extrajudicial killing, torture, sexual abuse, and violations on the right to
liberty of movement,” following “the same blueprint” that UN special rapporteur
on extrajudicial killings Philip Alston, in a 2007 report, recommended be abandoned.
In his damning report, Alston accused the government and
state security forces of deliberately targeting legal organizations and
activists for extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other rights
violations by openly labeling them members of supporters of the communist
revolutionary movement.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/114581/lumad-chief-rights-groups-brief-un-expert-on-forced-evacuations
KARAPATAN is the main CPP umbrella human rights front. It is interesting how CPP HR front group have become really adept at coopting UN and other international HR organizations as part of the anti-GRP/Philippine military propaganda disinformation effort.
ReplyDeleteMJ Chico · Chief, GPH-CNN Division and Chief, Peace Accord Monitoring Division at AFP Peace Process Officer posted the comment below to the article on the InterAksyon Website
"Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said they have so far documented 60,155 victims of forced evacuations under the Aquino administration, including 650 lumad who have sought sanctuary at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines compound in Davao City, many of them since April. "
Forced Evacuation?? By whom? Did KARAPATAN forgot that it was them who instigated these 'forced evacuations' by fooling the members of these tribes to go to Davao City where they were exploited by these Local Maoist-Communist group CPP-NPA-NDF through their front organizations like KARAPATAN?
I guess this documentary video from a legitimate NGO in Davao Region will tell the true story. I hope the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of IDPs will see and talk with the members of the Indigenous People in the video to know the true story.
Stop the Exploitation of the Indigenoue People.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJnzGGx9EFc