|
NEWS RELEASE
01 DECEMBER 2008
REFERENCES: ALPHONSE RIVERA, Spokesperson – SALINLAHI Alliance for
Children’s Concerns (Contact # 439-3104)
MA. ESMERALDA MACASPAC, Executive Director – Children’s Rehabilitation
Center (Contact # 913-9244)
CAMPAIGN GIVES NAME, FACE AND VOICE TO CHILDREN VICTIMS OF GLORIA
ARROYO’S WAR OF TERROR
The Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns launched its campaign today
to highlight human rights violations against children as part of the build
up for the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and the upcoming visit of the United Nations Special Representative to the
Secretary General (UNSRSG) on the Working Group on Children and Armed
Conflict, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy. “We want the general public to know
that the Arroyo government has consistently failed to uphold the survival,
protection, development and participation rights of Filipino children
through its anti-people economic policies and political maneuvers,”
declared Alphonse Rivera, Spokesperson of the Salinlahi, an advocacy group
for children’s rights and welfare.
The campaign, dubbed Children Under Siege: Children-Victims of the
US-Arroyo Regime’s War of Terror will feature activities that will
highlight human rights violations against children resulting from the
government’s Oplan Bantay II.
Through this campaign, cases of children who were killed, wounded,
tortured, illegally arrested and detained by the Armed Forces of the
Philippines will be highlighted. Special attention will also be given to
children victims of human rights violations who were falsely branded as
child soldiers. “Our documentation shows that the Arroyo government,
through its military and police, remains the number one violator of
children’s human rights. What is worse is that the perpetrators escape
accountability by branding their victims as “child soldiers”, thereby
further perpetuating the culture of impunity,” added Ma. Esmeralda
Macaspac, Executive Director of the CRC, a non-government organization
facilitating psycho-social help for children-victims of State violence and
a member of the Salinlahi Alliance.
CRC documented 66 cases of children killed, 50 children tortured, 55
illegally arrested and detained and 49 who were victims of frustrated
killings, since Pres. Gloria Arroyo assumed presidency in 2001. An
estimate of more than half a million children were victims of forced
displacement since 2001, especially in Mindanao. The organization plans to
submit a report to the UNSRSG which cites combined data of CRC and allied
human rights organizations when she meets with child-focused NGOs as part
of her itinerary.
The group also plans to present children-victims of various types of human
rights violations to the UNSRSG, including those who were falsely branded
as child soldiers. “The AFP should be made doubly accountable for their
irresponsible practice of labeling children victims of human rights
violations as “child soldiers” and then parading these children to the
media. Despite the passing of the Juvenile Justice Law that aims to
protect children from undue violation of their rights , we see this
practice of branding and labeling as “child soldiers” increasingly being
resorted to by the AFP. We cannot discount the trauma and stigma placed on
these children victims,” highlighted Rivera of Salinlahi.
Also joining Salinlahi and CRC in the campaign are the Children for Peace
Alliance, the Gabriela Women’s Party and GABRIELA. Activities are planned
by the groups starting today up to Ms. Coomaraswamy’s departure after
Human Rights Day. “We want to maximize every form and every opportunity we
can have to give names, faces and voices to children victims of the war of
terror that the Arroyo regime is waging against its people,” Rivera ended.
|
 |
