Int'l bodies join call for release of missing activists
International human rights groups have called on President Macapagal-Arroyo to resolve the shooting and wounding of a human rights worker and the abduction of two leaders of militant organizations on Panay Island.
The Front Line said in a statement that it believes that the attack against Jose Ely Garachico and the abduction of Ma. Luisa Posa-Dominado and Nilo Arado "are acts of reprisal following the country visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial and Summary Executions, Philip Alston, to the Philippines in February this year."
The Dublin-based group which was founded in 2001 to help protect human rights activists, noted that the ambush in Iloilo followed the March 10 killing of Siche Bustamente-Gandinao, a member of Misamis Oriental Farmers Association (MOFA).
Gandinao was shot dead after submitting a written testimony to the UN Special Rapporteur concerning the killing of her father-in-law.
Front Line Director Mary Lawlor, urged the Philippine government to "carry out immediate, thorough and impartial investigations" into the whereabouts of Arado and Dominado and into the shooting of Garachico and to publish the results and bring those responsible to justice.
Lawlor also called on the Arroyo administration to "launch full and independent inquiries into all the alleged abductions, shootings and extrajudicial killings which have occurred to date, and take action to prevent further attacks on human rights defenders."
Front Line reminded the President that the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, "recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders and their right to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals."
Meanwhile, the Geneva-based Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has launched an international campaign to pressure the Philippine government to take prompt action to locate Dominado and Arado and ensure their safe release.
"The Observatory is deeply concerned about the continuing attacks targeting human rights defenders in Philippines and fears for the physical and psychological integrity of the two human rights activists whose whereabouts remain unknown," the group said in its letter of appeal sent to human rights advocates and organizations.
Marie Hilao-Enriquez, Karapatan secretary general, said they plan to bring the incident to the attention of international bodies including the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance
She said they believe the UN would act on the incident because the Philippines is a member if the UN Human Rights Council and is a signatory to all the human rights conventions and treaties.
This incident has shocked us because there has been no record of these kind of attacks in Panay in recent years," Enriquez said in press conference here Wednesday.