Rights groups to UN : Call on Phl gov't to stop attacks

MANILA, Philippines - Various rights groups have appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Council to call on the Philippine government to stop the reported attacks on indigenous peoples and environmental activists in the country.

Speaking before the UNHRC and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights during the 26th Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, Switzerland,  Cristina Palabay of Karapatan cited the forcible evacuation of indigenous Manobos in Talaingod, Davao del Norte caused by military operations and bombings.

She said that the Manobos’ refusal to allow mining companies to encroach on their lands exposed them to threats and harassment.

"They have become victims of the Aquino government’s counter-insurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan, and they are tagged as members or supporters of the New People’s Army," she said in her oral intervention during the interactive dialogue with the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

"Mining companies, including Indophil Resources, have applications covering the land where the indigenous Manobos live, for gold, silver, copper, and other minerals...Anti-mining activists, indigenous leaders and children were killed by military and paramilitary groups, and justice remains elusive for them," she added.

Rights groups, including international organization Civicus, appealed to the UNHRC to urge the Philippine government to recognize and respect the rights of communities and human rights defenders, who bear the full adverse impact of business, especially big mining, activities.

They asked the Council to call on  the Philippine  government  to  adhere  to  international  human  rights  standards,  including  the UN Guiding  Principles  on Business  and Human Rights.

Citing Karapatan’s documentation and reports of London-based Global Witness, Palabay said that aside from extrajudicial killings of indigenous peoples and activists, arrests based on false charges of environmental and anti-mining activists are on the rise.

She cited the arrests and detention of physicist Kim Gargar and Tampakan anti-mining activist Romeo Rivera.