Communiqué: Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights launched
UKPC/FCYA-TO is a member of the Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights.
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Communiqué
17 October 2006
Canadians come together to support genuine human rights in the Philippines:
Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights launched
Canadians and Filipinos came together to form the Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) in a historic gathering in Toronto on October 14, 2006.
Over 40 people from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, both members and individual supporters of Philippine solidarity groups and Filipino-Canadian organizations, met to discuss the formation, objectives and program of the national task force.
The Canada-wide task force was formed in response to the call for support and solidarity of the Filipino people at this time when the human rights situation in the Philippines grows more serious.
Since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001, KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), the largest alliance of human rights organizations and advocates in the Philippines, has documented 763 victims of extra-judicial killings, more than 180 forcible disappearances and more than 200 political assassination attempts. Most of the victims are trade unionists, church people, journalists, lawyers, farmers, women, students and others actively opposing the Arroyo regime’s undemocratic and anti-people policies.
Not since the dark days of formal Martial Law under then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos have the Filipino people been subject to such levels of state terror, and has their rallying cry for solidarity been so resonant.
Building on a commitment made by Canadians to meet this rallying cry with greater efforts in the Vancouver, June 21, 2006 conference “Prospects for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy: Canadians answer the call of the Filipino people for support and solidarity”, the PCTFHR used the one-day meeting to discuss the objectives and programs of the task force as a Canada-wide formation.
The Eastern Canada and Western Canada Coordinators of the PCTFHR, Cecilia Diocson and Ning Alcuitas respectively, opened the meeting by reviewing the objectives and agenda of the day. Their opening emphasized the understanding that the creation of a national task force on human rights marks another benchmark in Canadian solidarity work with the Filipino people which has been ongoing for close to 25 years. Diocson and Alcuitas emphasized the need for such a national task force to help harness and coordinate all the local actions that have been ongoing across the country especially over this past year as more and more Canadians and Filipinos in Canada are being mobilized for the international “Stop the Killings in the Philippines” Campaign. In almost each major city in Canada, peace- and freedom-loving Canadians and Filipinos have already come together in local steering committees of the international “Stop the Killings in the Philippines” campaign. Diocson and Alcuitas underscored that the PCTFHR would help coordinate and amplify these local actions and mobilizations.
Emmanuel Sayo of the Kalayaan Resource and Training Centre and delegate of the 2005 International Solidarity Mission to the Philippines then provided a short background on the sharp increase in the number of political killings and the deteriorating human rights situation in the country within the political and economic crisis of the country and the world. Sayo also gave insight on the growing anti-Arroyo people’s movement in and outside the Philippines now building and broadening.
After gaining a better understanding about the urgent need for a Canada-wide task force specifically intended to help defend and promote human rights in the Philippines, May Farrales of the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines reviewed the objectives of the PCTFHR and initial ideas for a program of action.
The objectives of the PCTFHR are to:
1. Bring to the attention of Canadians the deteriorating human rights situation and to denounce the authoritarian rule and repression in the Philippines under the present Arroyo regime through local and national public education and awareness-raising activities.
2. Invite progressive Canadian groups and individuals, such as Canadian parliamentarians, media, academics, church people, trade unionists and human rights and anti-imperialist activists, to join the coalition and set up local committees to help coordinate and implement the work.
3. Implement an action plan as part of the international campaign, “Stop the Killings in the Philippines” (STKP) and carry the following main calls:
• An immediate stop to the killings and justice for the victims and their families;
• An immediate end to political persecution (with particular focus on the situation of the Batasan Six) and the upholding of democratic and human rights;
• An immediate resumption of the suspended peace negotiations between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
4. Organize fact-finding missions, lecture tours and other public education activities on peace, human rights and democracy in the Philippines.
5. Engage in dialogue with the Canadian government to review its current policies and relations with the Philippine government and consider suspension of all forms of its bilateral aid to the Philippines while the political killings and other violations of human rights continue to occur including the following:
• Press Canadian parliamentarians for support for the campaign.
• Press for the Philippines to be placed on the agenda for Canada’s annual human rights consultation and United Nations reports.
• Seek to testify before the Canadian joint parliamentary committees on human rights and foreign affairs.
• Seek audiences with Canadian foreign policy and other departmental advisors.
Included in the sharing of the PCTFHR’s program was a discussion on the Permanent People’s Tribunal: Second Session on the Philippines which is being convened on October 30, 2006 followed by the trial scheduled for March 2007 in The Netherlands.
The participants agreed on carrying out the following program ideas as part of the PCTFHR’s work:
• Lead and participate in the Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines (November 14 to 23, 2006). Help coordinate follow-up activities of the mission delegates within the framework of the coalition’s action plan.
• Support efforts of Philippine-based organizations, including the church, to educate their partners in Canada about the STKP campaign.
• Help coordinate cross-Canada activities on December 3, 2006 – the international day of solidarity with political prisoners.
• Help coordinate a cross-Canada mobilization to highlight the STKP campaign on December 10, 2006 to mark the 58th International Human Rights Day.
• Support efforts of Philippine-based and other international organizations to expose the regime’s actions through various activities such as the filing of international human rights complaints, sponsoring international gatherings and the hosting of fact-finding missions and people’s tribunals.
• Coordinate a cross-Canada tour of Congressman Satur Ocampo, one of the “Batasan 6,” in 2007 to help raise awareness about the Philippine situation to gather support for an end to political persecution, and to free Congressman Crispin Beltran.
Participants were able to deepen the discussion on the above programs in afternoon workshops which helped provide ideas to develop the work of the PCTFHR in the following areas: outreach and education in the Filipino community; lobbying; media work; fundraising and resource development; and outreach and education in the mainstream community. The rich workshop discussions helped stimulate ideas for forwarding the PCTFHR’s program including launching creative methods of outreaching and educating the Filipino community in Canada, setting up a nationally-coordinated day to lobby government bodies and politicians, liaising with all forms of media to increase Canadians’ public awareness of the issue, and outreaching to personalities and different sectors for support.
After workshop report-backs, the first meeting of the PCTFHR concluded with a synthesis of the unity and program of action of the newly-formed national task force.
To celebrate and share with the general public the successful launching of the Canada-wide task force for human rights in the Philippines, the PCTFHR paid tribute in a public ceremony to the victims of human rights violations by lighting candles, expressing their homage through song and poetry, and by publicly declaring the participants renewed commitment to heighten their solidarity with the Filipino people.
One of the immediate tasks of the PCTFHR will be to prepare for the upcoming Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines from November 14-23, 2006.#
For photos of the launch, please visit www.kalayaancentre.net and go to http://www.kalayaancentre.net/assets/images/photos/2006/pctfhr_index.htm
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Communiqué
17 October 2006
Canadians come together to support genuine human rights in the Philippines:
Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights launched
Canadians and Filipinos came together to form the Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) in a historic gathering in Toronto on October 14, 2006.
Over 40 people from Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, both members and individual supporters of Philippine solidarity groups and Filipino-Canadian organizations, met to discuss the formation, objectives and program of the national task force.
The Canada-wide task force was formed in response to the call for support and solidarity of the Filipino people at this time when the human rights situation in the Philippines grows more serious.
Since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power in 2001, KARAPATAN (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), the largest alliance of human rights organizations and advocates in the Philippines, has documented 763 victims of extra-judicial killings, more than 180 forcible disappearances and more than 200 political assassination attempts. Most of the victims are trade unionists, church people, journalists, lawyers, farmers, women, students and others actively opposing the Arroyo regime’s undemocratic and anti-people policies.
Not since the dark days of formal Martial Law under then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos have the Filipino people been subject to such levels of state terror, and has their rallying cry for solidarity been so resonant.
Building on a commitment made by Canadians to meet this rallying cry with greater efforts in the Vancouver, June 21, 2006 conference “Prospects for Peace, Human Rights and Democracy: Canadians answer the call of the Filipino people for support and solidarity”, the PCTFHR used the one-day meeting to discuss the objectives and programs of the task force as a Canada-wide formation.
The Eastern Canada and Western Canada Coordinators of the PCTFHR, Cecilia Diocson and Ning Alcuitas respectively, opened the meeting by reviewing the objectives and agenda of the day. Their opening emphasized the understanding that the creation of a national task force on human rights marks another benchmark in Canadian solidarity work with the Filipino people which has been ongoing for close to 25 years. Diocson and Alcuitas emphasized the need for such a national task force to help harness and coordinate all the local actions that have been ongoing across the country especially over this past year as more and more Canadians and Filipinos in Canada are being mobilized for the international “Stop the Killings in the Philippines” Campaign. In almost each major city in Canada, peace- and freedom-loving Canadians and Filipinos have already come together in local steering committees of the international “Stop the Killings in the Philippines” campaign. Diocson and Alcuitas underscored that the PCTFHR would help coordinate and amplify these local actions and mobilizations.
Emmanuel Sayo of the Kalayaan Resource and Training Centre and delegate of the 2005 International Solidarity Mission to the Philippines then provided a short background on the sharp increase in the number of political killings and the deteriorating human rights situation in the country within the political and economic crisis of the country and the world. Sayo also gave insight on the growing anti-Arroyo people’s movement in and outside the Philippines now building and broadening.
After gaining a better understanding about the urgent need for a Canada-wide task force specifically intended to help defend and promote human rights in the Philippines, May Farrales of the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines reviewed the objectives of the PCTFHR and initial ideas for a program of action.
The objectives of the PCTFHR are to:
1. Bring to the attention of Canadians the deteriorating human rights situation and to denounce the authoritarian rule and repression in the Philippines under the present Arroyo regime through local and national public education and awareness-raising activities.
2. Invite progressive Canadian groups and individuals, such as Canadian parliamentarians, media, academics, church people, trade unionists and human rights and anti-imperialist activists, to join the coalition and set up local committees to help coordinate and implement the work.
3. Implement an action plan as part of the international campaign, “Stop the Killings in the Philippines” (STKP) and carry the following main calls:
• An immediate stop to the killings and justice for the victims and their families;
• An immediate end to political persecution (with particular focus on the situation of the Batasan Six) and the upholding of democratic and human rights;
• An immediate resumption of the suspended peace negotiations between the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
4. Organize fact-finding missions, lecture tours and other public education activities on peace, human rights and democracy in the Philippines.
5. Engage in dialogue with the Canadian government to review its current policies and relations with the Philippine government and consider suspension of all forms of its bilateral aid to the Philippines while the political killings and other violations of human rights continue to occur including the following:
• Press Canadian parliamentarians for support for the campaign.
• Press for the Philippines to be placed on the agenda for Canada’s annual human rights consultation and United Nations reports.
• Seek to testify before the Canadian joint parliamentary committees on human rights and foreign affairs.
• Seek audiences with Canadian foreign policy and other departmental advisors.
Included in the sharing of the PCTFHR’s program was a discussion on the Permanent People’s Tribunal: Second Session on the Philippines which is being convened on October 30, 2006 followed by the trial scheduled for March 2007 in The Netherlands.
The participants agreed on carrying out the following program ideas as part of the PCTFHR’s work:
• Lead and participate in the Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines (November 14 to 23, 2006). Help coordinate follow-up activities of the mission delegates within the framework of the coalition’s action plan.
• Support efforts of Philippine-based organizations, including the church, to educate their partners in Canada about the STKP campaign.
• Help coordinate cross-Canada activities on December 3, 2006 – the international day of solidarity with political prisoners.
• Help coordinate a cross-Canada mobilization to highlight the STKP campaign on December 10, 2006 to mark the 58th International Human Rights Day.
• Support efforts of Philippine-based and other international organizations to expose the regime’s actions through various activities such as the filing of international human rights complaints, sponsoring international gatherings and the hosting of fact-finding missions and people’s tribunals.
• Coordinate a cross-Canada tour of Congressman Satur Ocampo, one of the “Batasan 6,” in 2007 to help raise awareness about the Philippine situation to gather support for an end to political persecution, and to free Congressman Crispin Beltran.
Participants were able to deepen the discussion on the above programs in afternoon workshops which helped provide ideas to develop the work of the PCTFHR in the following areas: outreach and education in the Filipino community; lobbying; media work; fundraising and resource development; and outreach and education in the mainstream community. The rich workshop discussions helped stimulate ideas for forwarding the PCTFHR’s program including launching creative methods of outreaching and educating the Filipino community in Canada, setting up a nationally-coordinated day to lobby government bodies and politicians, liaising with all forms of media to increase Canadians’ public awareness of the issue, and outreaching to personalities and different sectors for support.
After workshop report-backs, the first meeting of the PCTFHR concluded with a synthesis of the unity and program of action of the newly-formed national task force.
To celebrate and share with the general public the successful launching of the Canada-wide task force for human rights in the Philippines, the PCTFHR paid tribute in a public ceremony to the victims of human rights violations by lighting candles, expressing their homage through song and poetry, and by publicly declaring the participants renewed commitment to heighten their solidarity with the Filipino people.
One of the immediate tasks of the PCTFHR will be to prepare for the upcoming Canadian Human Rights Fact-Finding Mission to the Philippines from November 14-23, 2006.#
For photos of the launch, please visit www.kalayaancentre.net and go to http://www.kalayaancentre.net/assets/images/photos/2006/pctfhr_index.htm
posted by ukpc-toronto @ 12:24 p.m.
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