(We yield this space to the solidarity statement of human rights groups and civil society organizations due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
WE WISH to express our ongoing concern about the persistent killings of human rights defenders (HRDs) in the Philippines. HRD Memorial verified information on the killings of 25 human rights defenders in 2020. In the first six months of 2021 alone, 15 HRDs have been killed. Each of these killings in the 18-month period from January 2020 to June 2021 is abhorrent, and the trend is particularly worrying because these killings have taken place with absolute impunity.
Among the defenders killed were Zara Alvarez, a paralegal with human rights group Karapatan and research and advocacy officer of Negros Island Health Integrated Programme, and Randall Echanis, a long-time peasant leader and peace consultant. Their murders follow a pattern of violence and “red-tagging” of HRDs. In 2018, both their names appeared on a list of at least 600 people that the Department of Justice asked a court to declare as “terrorists”, and while their names were subsequently removed, this type of harassment against activists, which sees officials in the Duterte administration labeling HRDs as “communists”, “terrorists”, and “sympathizers”, clearly carries with it lethal consequences. Twelve months after their murders, no suspects have been arrested or charged.
Land and environmental rights defenders and defenders from indigenous communities face very serious risks as they attempt to peacefully defend their land and oppose major industrial projects. These HRDs are disproportionately represented in the figures of the HRDs killed in the past 18 months. On Dec. 30, 2020, indigenous rights defender Roy Giganto was among nine farmers and HRDs killed in a massacre that took place in various villages on Panay Island in a coordinated police and military operation. Before the massacre, these leaders had been “red-tagged” and accused by the military of being members and supporters of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army. In fact, they were all leaders of the Tumanduk organization, an alliance of indigenous people’s communities in Capiz and Iloilo provinces, and they consistently opposed human rights violations in their localities and advocated for the protection of their rights as Indigenous People. Prior to this attack they had been actively opposing and delaying progress on the Jalaur River Multi-Purpose Project Mega Dam, a joint project of the Philippine and South Korean governments that is feared to lead to the displacement of at least 17,000 indigenous Tumandok.
Under the Duterte administration, perpetrators – be they police, military or non-state actors – know that they can get away with killing human rights defenders. The killings are rarely investigated, which increases the vulnerability of HRDs who remain active, while undermining the human rights community’s confidence in the justice system.
In solidarity with the human rights community in the Philippines, we call on all governments to condemn the killings of HRDs in the Philippines and to send a message to the Duterte administration calling for thorough, impartial, and independent investigations.
In addition, we call on governments to take long-overdue action at the UN Human Rights Council and support an international level investigation. (Signatories: ACI Participa, Amnesty International, Comité Cerezo, El Programa Somos Defensores, FIDH, Front Line Defenders, Global Witness, Justiça Global, KARAPATAN, Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos, Red TDT, World Organization Against Torture)
