The IPT 2018 shall seek to help raise the visibility before the international public of the ongoing violation of peoples’ rights in the Philippines, exercise moral suasion, and help generate further political pressure on the governments of the Philippines and the US to heed the calls of the Filipino people
Dear Friends,
Warm greetings of peace!
The 16th President of the Philippines, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, rode on the Filipino people’s clamor for change in his electoral campaign and in the first few months of his presidency. He promised pro-people economic reforms, opened his Cabinet to progressive leaders from civil society, resumed the long-stalled peace talks with the revolutionary National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and called for an independent foreign policy, to name a few.
But less than two years into his term, his human rights record has surpassed the records of previous administrations (Arroyo and the recent Aquino regimes’), even that of the notorious Marcos dictatorship.
He has not only continued their anti-people economic programs, he waged a brutal “war on drugs”, declared and sustained martial law in Mindanao, unilaterally cancelled the peace talks with the NDFP and instead declared an “all-out-war” and intensified its US-inspired counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, intentionally targeting unarmed activists and human rights defenders.
Philippine human rights group KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), has documented 126 extrajudicial killings (EJKs), 235 frustrated EJKs, 272 illegal arrests and detention, 930 illegal arrest without detention, 426,590 victims of forced evacuation, 39,623 cases of use of public places for military purposes, 362,355 incidents of indiscriminate firing from July 2016 to December 2017.
These figures do not even include the unprecedented number of killings as a result of the administration’s anti-drug war Tokhang now estimated to be at least 10,000. While Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Chief Superintendent Dionardo Carlos denies that there are extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration, the PNP reported that there had been 6,225 drug-related deaths between July 2016 and September 2017.1 Furthermore, the PNP released a report that as of April 23, 2017, 7,080 people had been reported as killed in the “War On Drugs” since July 1, 2016.2 The victims of this bloody campaign are largely poor people, including minors and youth.
Well-documented cases of these human rights violations have been brought to the attention of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by several concerned Philippines based as well as international civil society organizations through the Universal Periodic Review on the Philippines (UPR) process in Geneva in 2017 and the Special Procedure mechanisms. A
1http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/10/07/1746112/pnp-6225-drug-related-deaths-no-extrajudicial-killings 2https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/145814-numbers-statistics-philippines-war-drugs
number of national and international entities have likewise conducted fact-finding solidarity missions and have issued reports, recommendations and condemnations of the Philippine government’s inaction to stop the killings and other serious human rights violations in the country.
Despite the conclusions of these entities confirming the responsibility and culpability of State authorities, President Duterte and his closest allies remain unmoved and are intent in continuing atrocities, emboldened by US political and military backing.
Victims of human rights violations under the US-Duterte regime are seeking justice. They have organized themselves and are working closely with various organizations in strengthening efforts to hold perpetrators to account.
It is at their behest that the IPT 2018 is being convened by the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH), Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), IBON International, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).
The IPT 2018 shall seek to help raise the visibility before the international public of the ongoing violation of peoples’ rights in the Philippines, exercise moral suasion, and help generate further political pressure on the governments of the Philippines and the US to heed the calls of the Filipino people.
The IPT is a court of public opinion where concrete evidence shall be presented (through survivors and expert witnesses) of their violations of the Filipino people’s individual and collective rights under international law. They will be brought for judgment before the broadest possible international audience.
The Tribunal’s verdict shall be based on a thorough and fair assessment of the evidence by a body of jurors composed of leading public figures of recognized achievement and high moral stature, in accordance with applicable legal standards. The body of evidence and verdict of the IPT 2018 shall be transmitted to the United Nations, various Parliaments and governments, as well as broad international organizations.
The IPT 2018 shall serve due notice to the perpetrators of these violations that impunity shall not go unchallenged by the people.
Let us be reminded that the resulting international uproar against the spate of extra-judicial killings under the US-Arroyo regime soon after the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal Second Session in the Philippines (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and George W. Bush)3, contributed to a decrease in the incidence of such killings in the latter part of 2007. The decline, though 3 Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal Second Session on the Philippines [PPT2] of March 2007 in The Hague, The Netherlands (The Filipino People vs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, George W. Bush, et.al: indicting the US-backed Arroyo regime for human rights violations, economic plunder and transgression of Philippine sovereignty)
temporary, was a welcome respite for the Filipino people under siege.
The Filipino people again appeal to the peoples of the world to listen to their voices and join them in their struggle for just and lasting peace in the land.
We invite you to heed their call and be a part of the IPT 2018 in Brussels, Belgium, from September 17 to 20, 2018.
We fervently hope that you can ENDORSE* and/or SPONSOR** this initiative as well as send representatives*** to the actual Tribunal in September 2018.
In solidarity and on behalf of the conveners,
Angie M. Gonzales Coordinator, International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines Head of the International Coordinating Secretariat
* Endorsers are organizations and/or individuals from different disciplines publicly supporting or participating in this initiative, assisting the organizers in informing others who might be interested to do so as well; your organization/name will be published as an endorser in due time
** Sponsors are organizations or individuals financially supporting the organization of this initiative;
Your monetary contributions will be very helpful in covering the costs of documenting the cases up to international legal standards, bringing the witnesses to testify at the Tribunal and eventually in the dissemination of the verdict to the international community
Account Name: Stichting ICHRP IBAN: NL12 INGB 0006 8639 12 BIC: ING BNL 2A Please indicate: Donation to the IPT 2018
For specific contributions or in kind (ex. Publication, accommodation in Brussels, etc., organization of an event after the IPT proper), please contact ipt2018@humanrightsphilippines.net
*** Practical information for actual attendance to the Tribunal to follow; delegates are requested to pre-register
For confirmation of participation or inquiries, please write to: ipt2018@humanrightsphilippines.net