Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development (APWLD) published a statement on 16 March 2018 urging the Duterte Administration to keep its hands off women human rights defenders in the Philippines.[see https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/03/10/there-seems-to-be-no-limit-to-what-duterte-is-willing-to-say-and-may-get-away-with/] On 21 February 2018, the Duterte Administration through the Department of Justice put forward a petition via the anti-terrorism act, which named over 500 activists, a few of whom are members and close allies of APWLD, in its human rights and development justice work:

Elisa Tita Lubi, current Karapatan National Executive Committee member, former interim Regional Coordinator of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) and founding Vice Chairperson of Gabriela Women’s Party;

Joan Carling, current Member and Co-Convenor of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group for the Sustainable Development Goals, former Secretary General of the Asian Indigenous Peoples’ Pact (AIPP), and former member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues;

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, current United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, former Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples and former Chairperson of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA);

Beverly Longid, current global coordinator of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), former CPA Chair and current Advisory Council member;

…. Tita, Joan, Vicky and Beverly are not terrorists, they are one of the strongest women human rights defenders that we know. To speak against Duterte’s authoritarianism, double talk on women’s rights and anti-people policies are not acts of terrorism but rather a large part of our duty to uphold human rights and commitment to participatory democracy…

The Philippines is truly one of the most dangerous countries in the region to become a human rights defender, when it is so easy to be listed on the military’s Order of the Battle for voicing political dissent. A list that renders you vulnerable to arrests under false charges, detention for an indefinite period, tortured or even killed. To make matters worse, these are legitimised by laws like the Human Security Act of 2007 that is now being used to legitimize persecution of HRDs and normalize violations targeted at them.

….we hold the Philippines accountable to this responsibility and urge them to:

• ….
• Scrap the baseless, malicious and arbitrary Justice Department petition and stop the criminalization of the work of activists, human rights defenders, and political dissenters through the practice of filing trumped-up criminal charges;
• Respect and uphold the right of HRDs and cease threats, intimidation and harassment against them
• Repeal draconian laws like the Human Security Act of 2007 and all legislative, administrative, executive and judicial acts that violate human rights;
• Draft and pass a bill protecting the rights of human rights defenders and protect them from various forms of reprisals

For any press queries, interviews and further information, please contact: Marion Cabrera marion@apwld.org .

http://apwld.org/statement-women-human-rights-defenders-are-not-terrorists/