AFP denies rising cases of HR abuses

From the Philippine Star (Mar 6): AFP denies rising cases of HR abuses

The military on Wednesday belied the claim of human rights group Karapatan that human rights violations under President Aquino have worsened.
 
Armed Forces spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said the group’s information was based on allegations that were not submitted to the proper channels.

“These (alleged abuses) are only allegations. Most of these are not properly filed,” Burgos said.

“We have several mechanisms in place that address alleged human rights violations. We have human rights offices and desks in all commands. Human rights [eudcation] is also part of our troop education and formation,” he added.

Burgos was asked to react to Karapatan’s claim that there have been 137 cases of extrajudicial killings since Aquino assumed the presidency in 2010.

The group said in 2012 alone, 51 cases of killings were recorded, 13 of them involving minors.

Karapatan, which has consistently criticized the country’s security forces, said there were 269 cases of illegal arrests and detention, 205 cases of physical assault, 203 cases of illegal search, 154 cases of frustrated killings, 72 incidents of torture, 14 cases of enforced disappearances and more than 27,000 incidents of threat, intimidation and harassment.

Burgos could not validate the figures cited by Karapatan but revealed that the government would soon consolidate its human rights data.

“The interagency panel (on human rights) led by the Justice department will meet next week to look into the different reports of different agencies,” he said.

“They will be consolidating the human rights cases so we can come up with data for everybody,” he added.

Last November, the president issued Administrative Order no. 35, creating an interagency committee that would look into human rights abuses by state and non-state forces.

The interagency committee would exclusively handle cases of extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other forms of human rights violations.

The committee has been tasked to create teams that will work towards the resolution of unsolved and new cases.

The committee is being led by the Justice Secretary and consists of the heads of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, the secretaries of the departments of the Interior and Local Government and Defense, the presidential advisers of the peace process and political affairs, the chiefs of the military, the police and the National Bureau of Investigation.

The chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights and the Ombudsman will sit as observers and resource persons in the committee.

http://www.philstar.com/nation/2013/03/06/916524/afp-denies-rising-cases-hr-abuses