marzo 2017

Philippines: Compostela mourns three farmer activists killed in one day

Local members protesting against the killings of farmer activists in Compostela.

DAVAO CITY, — Three farmer activists, including a couple, were all killed on March 27, in Compostela Valley, barely a week before the fourth round of peace talks are set to begin between the NPA and the Philippine government.

The victims were named as Cora Molave Lina (45) and Arman and Arlyn Almonicar, a couple, all of whom were members of Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Laak, Compostela Valley (United Farmers of Laak, Compostela Valley).

According to local reports “Lina had been receiving threats from the military and was summoned many times by the military to visit their battalion camp. She had also been tagged as a sympathiser of the New People’s Army”.

According to a source as reported in Davao Today, »they lend their vehicle to farmers who will attend forums or mobilisations, just like in January during a peace forum in Laak, Compostela Valley,” the source said.

The forum last January 10 was organized by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

Philippine human rights organisation Karapatan pointed to the members of the intelligence unit of the 60th Infantry Battalion based in Laak as the suspected perpetrators of the crime.

Arman and Arlyn were the second couple killed in Compostela Valley this year.

On March 2, Ramon and Leonila Pesadilla were killed inside their house in Barangay Osmeña in Compostela town, Compostela Valley Province.

Ramon and Leonila were members of the Compostela Farmers Association, a local anti-mining group, which reported that they had being tagged as members of a rebel organisation by the military.

The military has denied the accusations.

Second lieutenant Amadeus Celestial, civil military operation officer of the 60th Infantry Battalion told Davao Today, “definitely we do not have any involvement on the case. Our troops are intact and we do not engage in those activities”.

He added that apart from gathering information, the work carried out by members of their intelligence unit facilitates rebels who wish to surrender, “particularly those who have concerns for their safety,” Amadeus said.

Meanwhile, the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura in Southern Mindanao condemned the killing of the farmers.

Lito Lao, chairperson of UMA-SMR is quoted as saying that if the killings continue, “this government is in a far worse position than the past regime of Aquino.”

According to Lao a total of 15 farmers and activists were killed in Southern Mindanao under the Duterte administration. Lao believes, “most were perpetrated by suspected military operatives.”

According to Cristina Palabay, Secretary General of Karapatan, a human rights Philippines based NGO, efforts of journalists to report on extra-judicial killings in the Philippines should be lauded, instead of being toned down…we enjoin journalists to report on the increasing number of political killings, illegal arrests, bombing of communities and other human rights abuses of State actors, in relation to the counter-insurgency program and all-out-war of the Duterte regime and the AFP.»

Cristina continues, what is needed to solve crimes and sustainably counter the social malaise causing insecurity among Filipinos are political reforms that address landlessness, lack of secure jobs and living wages, accessible social services and utilities, rural development and national industrialisation.»

Mexico: Third journalist killed in a month

On the morning of Thursday 23 March, distinguished journalist Miroslava Breach Velducea was shot dead in Chihuahua as she was leaving her home with one of her children. She was shot several times in the head and died on the way to hospital. Miroslava was the third journalist killed in Mexico this month.

Miroslava has worked as an investigative journalist since the 1980’s and was known for her strong support for democracy and human rights. As a journalist, she had paid particular attention to the issue of forced displacement and land rights issues, which particularly affect indigenous communities in Chihuahua. She had also written on the issue of women’s rights in the region and more recently had focused on the role of local drug and criminal cartels and their connections to the political world. For 15 years she had been a correspondent for national daily La Jornada and was has also worked for the news agency El Norte de Juárez.

Miroslava had been an active participant in the campaign to demand action at state and federal level to protect women human rights defenders and journalists. The Inter American Commission on Human Rights has demanded action by the government of Mexico to address the exceptionally high level of impunity for political killings in Chihuahua. According to the statement, «Only then will journalists and human rights defenders have any reasonable hope of being able to carry out their work without the fear of attack».

According to the National Commission for Human Rights, Chihuahua is the third most dangerous state in Mexico for journalists. According to the Attorney General’s office, a team of experts has been sent to Chihuahua to carry out an investigation. In a statement to Congress, journalist César Ibarra said, “ It wounds me deeply that at any moment a friend and colleague can be killed simply for telling the truth. We are not here with a political agenda but rather as fellow reporters to demand justice for our murdered colleagues”.

Front Line Defenders has condemned the killing of Miroslava Breach Velducea and is calling on both the state and federal governments to take effective action to protect journalists and human rights defenders.

Brazil: Leading land rights activist shot dead in hospital while recovering from previous attempt on his life

Waldomiro Costa Pereira, an activist with the Landless Workers Movement (MST), was killed on Monday 20 March, when gunmen stormed the hospital in Parauapebas in north-eastern Brazil’s Pará state where he was recovering from an earlier attempt on his life.

Video footage from the hospital security system shows the killers arriving on two motorbikes at the hospital where they overpowered the security guards before heading straight to the room where Waldomiro was recovering from surgery.

Waldomiro was a survivor of the April 17, 1996 massacre in the Amazonian State of Pará in which 19 peasants were killed. The policemen who were accused of carrying out that massacre are still awaiting trial. Although Waldomiro had resigned two years ago as one of the regional leaders of the MST in Pará, he was still considered one of the most important activists in the peasant movement in the region.

Brazil has become one of the world’s most dangerous countries for land rights activists – with 61 killings last year – the highest level since 2003, according to the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), a Brazilian advocacy group. According to an MST spokesperson, “Impunity has become commonplace, as has the action of criminal militia groups.” The spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, said  that Pereira had been a long-time activist in the struggle for agrarian reform.

Conflicts over territory are common in Brazil where 1% of the population owns nearly half of the nation’s land, according to a 2016 study from the University of Windsor in Canada.

Thailand: Minority rights defender Chaiyaphum Pa-sae, 17, shot dead in Chiang Mai province.

 

Chaiyaphum Pa-sae, 17, was shot dead on 17 March, 2017 after soldiers apprehended him during an «anti-drug operation» in Chiang Dao district of Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai province.  However, there are many questions to be asked about this killing as, according to Human Rights Watch, “Abusive officials have long used anti-drug operations to cover their attacks on activists who exposed official wrongdoing or defended minority rights.”

Chaiyaphum  was a well-known activist from the Young Seedlings Network Camp in Chiang Dao district. He was involved in numerous campaigns to promote the rights of ethnic Lahu and other vulnerable ethnic minorities in northern Thailand, helping them to gain citizenship, health care, and access to education. He also spoke out against abuses by Thai security forces against his community during anti-drug operations.

On 15 March, he was among 19 youth representatives of ethnic minorities who attended a youth activist forum organised by the National Institute for Child and Family Development in Bangkok. Chaiyaphum was also a musician and documentary film maker and was awarded a prize at the 16th Thai Short Film and Video Festival for a short film called ‘Belt and Comb’. Several of his short documentaries were broadcast on Thai PBS.

According to the account of the soldiers at the checkpoint, they stopped the black Honda Jazz sedan which was being driven by 19 year old Pongsanai Saengtala. Chaiyaphum was a passenger in the car. The two young men stepped out of the car and, allegedly, there was an argument between them and the military officials. Later Chaiyaphum was found dead from a gunshot wound close to the military checkpoint. The soldiers said that Chaiyaphum escaped from the soldiers, pulled a knife out of the car’s trunk, fought his way past them, and ran into the nearby jungle. Soldiers claimed that they pursued him and when Chaiyaphum was about to throw a hand grenade at them, shot him in self-defense. They have not explained how a detained person obtained the knife or grenade.

Another killing in remarkably similar circumstances took place on 15 February 2017 when 32 year old Abe Moo was also the victim of an extrajudicial killing, committed by military officials under the command of the 2nd Company of the 1st Operation Command, the Taskforce of the Fifth Cavalry Regiment, King’s Guard. The authorities presented the same reasons and circumstances to justify their action, claiming that the soldiers had been conducting a search for drugs and had found drugs in the possession of Abe Moo. They also claimed that Abe Moo attempted to escape and  was shot dead as he was preparing to hurl a grenade at the officials.

The soldier responsible for killing Chaiyaphum Pa-sae has been arrested and charged with murder.

 

Philippines: Inaction makes government complicit in political killings

Originally published in InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

Andrew Anderson is executive director of Ireland-based Front Line Defenders, which works on the security and protection of human rights defenders at risk around the world. The group notes that ‘while many people are focusing on killings in the context of the crackdown on the drug trade, no one is really focusing on the pattern of attacks on human rights defenders.’ Last year, Front Line Defenders recorded 281 killings of human rights defenders worldwide, 31 of these in the Philippines, making it ‘the most dangerous country in the world in which to be a HRD, outside of the Americas.’

On Thursday, 2 March, Jimboy Tapdasan Pesadilla was contacted by a neighbor to go to his parents’ house urgently. When he got to the house, he found several neighbors outside the house and a team of police inside, taking pictures. His father and mother had both been shot dead.

Ramon Dagaas Pesadilla and his wife Leonila Tapdasan Pesadilla were both active members of the Compostela Farmers’ Association. The CFA has been vocal in its opposition to major mining projects in the area, and as a result their members have been regular targets for the security forces and thugs hired by the mining companies. Ramon and Leonila had recently donated land for a lumad (the non-Muslim indigenous people of the southern Philippines) community school.

This had made them a particular target for attack as the security forces accuse indigenous community schools of fostering support for the New People’s Army. Human rights groups have reported an upward trend in human rights violations against indigenous people ever since fighting resumed between communist rebels and government forces following the termination of both parties’ unilateral ceasefires early last month.

These latest killings bring to 17 the number of HRDs killed since the start of 2017.

When President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines left office in June 2016, he could at least claim some credit for a significant drop in the number of extra-judicial executions, even though the activities of government-backed death squads still remained a major cause for concern.

Since the election of President Rodrigo Duterte, killings are once more on the increase. These crimes are rarely investigated or the perpetrators held to account. According to Human Rights Watch’s 2016 Annual Report: “Among the reasons are lack of political will to investigate and prosecute abuses by state security forces; a corrupt and politicized criminal justice system; and a traditional “patronage politics” system that protects officials and security forces.”

In its 2016 Annual Report, Front Line Defenders reported 281 killings of human rights defenders around the world. Thirty-one of those killings took place in the Philippines, the largest number of killings of HRDs in any country outside the Americas.

By calling for the extrajudicial killing of those involved, or suspected of being involved, in the drug trade, President Duterte has sent a signal that murder is an acceptable way of dealing with certain social problems. The ending of the peace talks and the ceasefire has made an already volatile situation even more dangerous, especially for indigenous peoples or environmental HRDs who object to mining or other polluting industries.

The Philippines is now one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a HRD and the government of President Duterte must act urgently to break the cycle of violence, ensure the security forces operate within the rule of law and bring the perpetrators to justice or stand accused of complicity in murder.

The recent decision to involve the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the war on drugs, especially in the lands of indigenous peoples, is a dangerous development which will do nothing to solve the drug problem or resolve the decades-old conflict, but will certainly increase the death toll.

Since the beginning of February there has been a catalogue of killings of lumad community leaders. On 3 February, Matanem Lorendo Pocuan and Renato Anglao, were gunned down in separate incidents. On 6 February, Emelito Rotimas was shot eight times by suspected military agents, while later the same day Glenn Ramos, was shot dead by personnel of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. On 16 February, Edweno ‘Edwin’ Catog, was shot by two men, believed to be linked to the 46th Infantry Battalion-Philippine Army. He had previously been warned by a relative that he should go into hiding because he was on a military hit list. On 19 February, Willerme Agorde of Mailuminado Farmers’ Association Incorporated (MAFAI) was shot by suspected members of the Bagani paramilitary group.

According to Cristina Palabay of human rights organization Karapatan, “There is a consistent pattern in these killings. Every political killing is justified by the military with claims that victims are members of the New People’s Army (NPA), and have been killed during ‘legitimate’ encounters’. In the cities, we are being fed a similar narrative — with the police justifying drug-related killings during ‘legitimate’ police operations. These killings are perpetrated by state security forces who seem to think that they have been granted the right to kill indiscriminately.”

President Duterte has encouraged the killers and must be held responsible for his actions. The international community must challenge President Duterte’s endorsement of murder. Failure to do so will send a signal to dictators everywhere that they can wage war on their own people with impunity.

The number of killings is not just a measure of entrenched violence, but an indicator of the failure of successive Philippine governments to deal with issues of poverty, corruption and discrimination, as well as the lack of economic or social opportunities for the vast majority of the people of the Philippines.

A key step towards addressing this issue is for the government to recognize the key role of HRDs in helping to create a more just and equal society in the Philippines.

 

Pakistan: Prominent human rights lawyer shot dead in Shabqadar

 

On Saturday 04 March unidentified gunmen shot a prominent human rights lawyer dead in what appears to have been a targeted killing, in Shabqadar, near the Afghanistan border.

The gunmen who were travelling on a motor cycle drew up alongside the car and shot Muhammed Jan Gigyani as he was driving through the city. He was critically wounded and died en route to hospital. Gigyani was a prominent human rights lawyer affiliated with the secular Qaumi Watan Party (QWP). He was a senior member of the Charsadda Bar Association and had previously served as the Shabqadar Bar Association president.

Muhammed Jan Gigyani was also affiliated with several small political parties at local level and always spoke out against terrorism and injustice. According to local community leaders «he was a staunch supporter of democracy, human liberty, education and peace”. He had twice stood unsuccessfully as a candidate in the general elections for the Provincial Assembly.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), the banned militant group responsible for many of the recent militant attacks in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the killing.

Shabqadar, where the lawyer was gunned down, is located near Mohmand Agency and falls in Charsadda district, where suicide bombers killed at least seven people near a court complex on 21 February  in an attack claimed by JuA.

On 15 February, the group also carried out a suicide attack on the headquarters of the Mohmand Agency’s political administration, killing three law enforcement personnel and two civilians.

The most devastating suicide attack carried out by the group was on 13 February at Charing Cross on Lahore’s busy Mall Road. The bombing, which targeted police officials present at a protest, left 13 dead and 85 injured. Pakistani officials say JuA has been planning attacks and operating from Afghanistan.

 

Philippines: Legal system under attack as 7th lawyer shot dead

On 15 February, environmental rights lawyer, Manuelita Cumba Mascariñas-Green was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen while she was driving her three young children home in the capital city of Tagbilaran, Bohol. Two men on motorcycles blocked her car and shot her dead. The manner of the killing is consistent with the pattern of killings of other lawyers and political activists in recent years and shows it was a planned attack.

Yeb Saño, Executive Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said in a statement «Those who cause environmental destruction are resorting to savage measures and deplorable acts to stop communities and people who are standing up to protect our imperilled environment and the very ecosystems that support  the lives and livelihoods of our people».

Atty. Mascariñas-Green handled agrarian and human rights cases in Cebu before she transferred to Bohol and was described by her colleagues as brave and courageous. Atty. Mascariñas-Green is the seventh lawyer killed since President Duterte came to power. Of the seven killed, one was a judge while two were prosecutors. All seven were shot to death.

According to the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), “Given the government’s failure to adequately investigate these killings, amid the growing number of unresolved extrajudicial drug related killings and attacks on political activists, there are fears that this new attack will become just another name on the long list of unresolved killings”.

Meanwhile, many other members of the legal profession have been the targets of unsuccessful killings, threats, and smear campaigns. The NUPL believes that “…this series of attacks against judges, prosecutors and lawyers is not only directed against their persons and the legal profession, but also against the litigants’ and victims’ constitutional right to counsel and justice. If the lawyers representing and defending the victims of human rights abuses do not feel safe in the discharge of their duties, not only the cause of their clients but justice itself are at stake. Without that freedom from fear in performing their duties as lawyers, they cannot effectively be agents of justice”.

 

 

Philippines: Husband and wife who donated land to indigenous community school assassinated

On Thursday, 2 March, Jimboy Tapdasan Pesadilla was contacted by a neighbour to go to his parent’s house urgently. When he got to the house, he found several neighbours outside the house and a team of police inside, taking pictures. His father and mother had both been shot dead.

Ramon Dagaas Pesadilla and his wife Leonila Tapdasan Pesadilla were both active members of the Compostela Farmers’ Association( CFA). The CFA has been vocal in its opposition to major mining projects in the area, and as a result their members have been regular targets for the security forces and thugs hired by the mining companies. Ramon and Leonila had recently donated land for a Lumad community school. This had made them a particular target for attack as the security forces accuse indigenous community schools of fostering support for the New People’s Army (NPA – the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines which has been waging an armed struggle against the government of the Philippines since the 1960’s). Human rights groups have reported an upward trend in human rights violations against indigenous people ever since fighting resumed between communist rebels and government forces following the termination of both parties’ unilateral ceasefires early last month.

These latest killings bring to 18 the number of killings of HRDs and members of peasant communities since the start of 2017.

 

Hoy Hace un Año, Asesinaron a Berta Caceres en Honduras

Hoy hace un año, asesinaron a Berta, la defensora de la vida, luchadora de siempre, mujer viento libre, palabra certera y cuidadosa. Una mujer a quien la belleza le importaba en el sentido más hondo del término. Esa que evidencia la vulgaridad de los políticos de oficio, seres humanos que una desea lejos de los poderes de la vida colectiva hondureña, que se desprecian tanto como se desprecia al dictador y su séquito obsceno de abundancia en el epicentro de la miseria.

Desde esta fecha, en la que Berta, semilla de rebeldía fue sembrada, en el que cientos de personas repudiamos el hecho, de que en este país se asesine a quien defiende los bienes comunes, hicieron sentir en las calles y en distintos medios la solidaridad tanto nacional como internacional y con esto lograr frenar el financiamiento del Banco holandés FMO y del banco finlandés Finnfund, principales financiadores del proyecto hidroeléctrico Agua Zarca.

Aunque la exigencia de justicia para Berta no ha cesado, el Ministerio Público no ha logrado dar una respuesta favorable a esta petición, pues quienes ordenaron éste tan terrible crimen continúan en libertad, pese a los hallazgos encontrados de la relación cercana entre los detenidos y la empresa Desarrollo Energético S.A. (DESA), empresa responsable de implementar el proyecto hidroeléctrico Agua Zarca en territorio indígena Lenca sin un verdadero proceso de consulta previa e informada, como lo establece el Convenio 169 de la OIT sobre los pueblos indígenas.

Hoy hace un año, asesinaron a Berta, la defensora de la vida, luchadora de siempre, mujer viento libre, palabra certera y cuidadosa. Una mujer a quien la belleza le importaba en el sentido más hondo del término. Esa que evidencia la vulgaridad de los políticos de oficio, seres humanos que una desea lejos de los poderes de la vida colectiva hondureña, que se desprecian tanto como se desprecia al dictador y su séquito obsceno de abundancia en el epicentro de la miseria.

Desde esta fecha, en la que Berta, semilla de rebeldía fue sembrada, en el que cientos de personas repudiamos el hecho, de que en este país se asesine a quien defiende los bienes comunes, hicieron sentir en las calles y en distintos medios la solidaridad tanto nacional como internacional y con esto lograr frenar el financiamiento del Banco holandés FMO y del banco finlandés Finnfund, principales financiadores del proyecto hidroeléctrico Agua Zarca.

Aunque la exigencia de justicia para Berta no ha cesado, el Ministerio Público no ha logrado dar una respuesta favorable a esta petición, pues quienes ordenaron éste tan terrible crimen continúan en libertad, pese a los hallazgos encontrados de la relación cercana entre los detenidos y la empresa Desarrollo Energético S.A. (DESA), empresa responsable de implementar el proyecto hidroeléctrico Agua Zarca en territorio indígena Lenca sin un verdadero proceso de consulta previa e informada, como lo establece el Convenio 169 de la OIT sobre los pueblos indígenas.

Continuamos demandando al Estado de Honduras la participación activa del equipo legal que acompaña el caso como del COPINH, para que la investigación sea efectiva, además de garantizar el respeto a la integridad física de quienes forman parte del Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras COPINH Y los familiares de Berta Cáceres.

A estas demandas nos sumamos muchas voces desde diversas regiones, hace un año que exigimos justicia y lo continuaremos haciendo por Berta y las luchas del pueblo lenca.

Video coproducido por Front Line Defenders y la IM-Defensoras, con la contribución de la Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras en el relato y la narración.

#BertaVive
#COPINHSigue
#JusticiaParaBerta