Streetwise
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo

Human rights and the US ”war on terror”

The (US) strategy which is keyed on military stealth and might had trampling
effects on the basic liberties of suspected terrorists for laws are silent
when the guns of war do the talking. The war on terrorism has inevitable
spillover effects on human rights all over the world, especially in countries
suspected as being used as havens of terrorists. -- The Old Struggle for
Human Rights, New Problems Posed by Security, Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno

At the 8th session of the UN Human Rights Council, during which the Philippine
human rights record is being reviewed, UN Special Rapporteur Professor Philip
Alston, stood by his findings on the alarming spate of extrajudicial killings
in the Philippines in the last six years.

According to the non-government organization, Philippine UPR (Universal
Periodic Review) Watch, Mr. Alston stated that so many of the cases remained
unexplained; only a few cases, prosecuted; and to date there had been no
conviction of military personnel involved. Mr. Alston underscored his finding
that, in so far as the number and characterization of the killings, the
methodology used by the Philippine government was defective.

Fr. Rex Reyes, head of delegation of the Philippine UPR Watch, said that after
Alston’s report, the Philippine Mission in Geneva submitted a 6-page statement
lambasting the report as "inaccurate, highly selective and biased” and
vilifying Mr. Alston himself.

It is not at all out of character for the Philippine government to stick to
its denial mode as far as extra-judicial killings (EJKs) and other human
rights violations are concerned. The regime of Mrs. Gloria Arroyo, while
continuing to understate the gravity and extent of the killings, washes its
hands of any culpability, accuses its detractors of exaggerating the problem
and of politicking, and then proudly proclaims that it has significantly
reduced the incidence of EJKs and human rights violations in general.

Mr. Alston was reported to have “happily note(d) the drop in the number of
extrajudicial killings since he began his mission in the Philippines.” But he
also wryly added, “The decrease in number while a cause to congratulate, is
likewise a cause to condemn because it merely shows clearly who are behind the
extrajudicial killings.”

The Arroyo regime’s bloody human rights record has close to universally been
criticized by the international human rights community, including such
institutions as the International Parliamentary Union as well as certain
countries in the European Union known for their consistent defense of human
rights. Yet most recently, Malacanang issued a press release welcoming the
2008 report of the US State Department “hailing the Philippine government’s
adherence to democracy and freedom, respect for human rights and stepped up
efforts to end extrajudicial killings and disappearances.” Presidential
Spokesperson Bunye added, “(The report) reiterates the commitment of the
American government to assist and stand by us.”

The US-backed Arroyo regime, facing serious challenges to its political
survival, has courted the support of the US and ensured the loyalty of the
US-trained Philippine military by escalating military actions not only against
the CPP-NDFP-NPA but against legal progressive organizations and personalities
under the guise of countering “terrorism”. Hence the rise in extrajudicial
killings.

Moreover, the regime has been emboldened by the US “war on terror” to rely
mainly on a military solution to the armed conflict rather than address the
roots of the armed conflict by instituting basic social, political and
economic reforms. Thus, one of the first victims of the US “war on terror” in
the Philippines is the quest for a just and lasting peace through peace
negotiations between the government and the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines.

In the light of increasing revelations about the horrendous violations of
human rights and international humanitarian law by the US military, US
government-contracted private security agencies and such state investigative
arms as the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in the course of the US war of occupation in Iraq and
Afghanistan and while rounding up suspected “terrorists” in the US and other
countries, it is not surprising why the Bush administration and the Arroyo
regime find themselves mutually reinforcing each other’s fascist mindset and
policies.

It behooves human rights advocates exposing and opposing the brutal Arroyo
regime to pay particular attention to the US own bloody human rights record
everywhere and the particular role that the US continues to play in
encouraging and sustaining state terrorism by its neo-colonial client regimes.
The indisputable and documented trail of US war crimes, crimes against
humanity, genocide, and crime of aggression against sovereign countries must
be unmasked and fought against.

Specifically, the US refusal to sign on to the Rome Statute mandating the
International Criminal Court (ICC) and its use of arm-twisting measures, e.g.
a cut-off in military and economic aid, against countries that ratify the Rome
Statute, is a virtual admission of guilt and the intent to continue violating
human rights (HR) and international humanitarian law (IHL). The ICC is widely
considered to be a historic and major breakthrough in human rights protection
because it provides international mechanism for prosecution of grievous
violations of HR and IHL. The Philippines signed but did not submit the
treaty to the Senate for ratification due to such US pressure.

The official US post-9/11 “Guidelines for Interrogation” of suspected
“terrorists” include methods considered as torture by international law
standards. Even US courts have ruled these to be unconstitutional. The US
also signed but “with reservations” the International Convention on Torture.
Severe, inhuman and dehumanizing torture has been inflicted by US forces in
Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and other US-run detention facilities all over the
world. Evidently the practice of torture by US security agents and armed
forces is systematic and to a certain extent institutionalized.

Human rights groups and several public inquiries in Europe have found the US
government, with the help of numerous governments worldwide, to be engaged in
the illegal practice of extraordinary rendition, secret detention and torture.
The US government-sponsored program of renditions is an unlawful practice in
which numerous persons have been illegally detained and secretly flown to
third countries, where they have suffered additional human rights abuses
including torture and enforced disappearance.

The latest scandal surrounding the US-led war of terror is the emergence from
a number of sources such as statements from the US military, the Council of
Europe and related parliamentary bodies and the testimonies of prisoners, that
the US is operating “floating prisons” in an attempt to conceal the numbers
and whereabouts of those detained as “terrorist” suspects.

Indeed, Mrs. Arroyo’s upcoming meeting with US President Bush in the US this
month shows just how much she still admires and follows the lead of her
fascist, if lame-duck, role model.#




 

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