Solon files measure penalizing crimes against humanity

Negros Occidental Rep. Apolinario Lozada Jr., chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, has filed House Bill No. 6298 penalizing crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes and other international crimes.

Lozada cited a survey from the United Nations that shows 90 percent of the casualties of armed conflict in modern times are civilians, mostly women and children, who bear the burdens of hostilities, violence and displacement as observed in Kosovo and East Timor.

"We have paid a high price for this culture of war. What we need now is a different approach in building a culture of peace. Peace is no longer the business of governments and international organizations, but the business of the individual and his community. Peace is more than the absence of war and violence. It is our values and attitudes in our families, school and communities. Peace must now be cultivated, not merely through a single grand act like the signing of a treaty, but must be translated into the everyday events in our lives," he added.

The bill defines and penalizes crimes against international humanitarian law.

It also punishes the misuse of Red Cross and other protective emblems, violations against cultural property and places of worship and violations against the involvement of children in armed conflict.

"The proposed law should not be treated per se as a national legislation for the implementation of the 1998 International Criminal Court (ICC) Rome Statute but rather uses the international law as a model or source," Lozada said.

Lozada also said "observance and adoption of IHL, its treaties and conventions, by all nation, rich and poor, powerful or weak will lead to lasting peace and the filing of the omnibus IHL bill in Congress embodies our renewed vigor in the task of building lasting peace and true humanitarianism."

Other panelists in the IHL press conference were Assistant Foreign Secretary Ma. Lourdes Ramiro-Lopez, PNRC official Justice Leonor Ines Luciano, Defense Undersecretary Edgardo Batenga and DFA Usec. Franklin Ebdalin.