Joint
Statement of AFAD and FIND
On the Hunger Strike of Political Prisoners
12 August 2011
FREEDOM TO ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS, JUSTICE TO ALL DESAPARECIDOS
The
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the
Families of Victims of
Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) strongly urge the Philippine government
to immediately release
all political prisoners even as we lament the failure of President
Benigno Simeon Aquino III to heed
with dispatch the prisoners’ call for freedom. Prompt and favorable
response by government could
have averted the current hapless condition of the political prisoners
who are now on the 19th day of
their hunger strike.
There
are 313 political prisoners and detainees who are still languishing in
various detention facilities
all over the country according to the Task Force Detainees of the
Philippines (TFDP). But the
Philippine government continues to deny them political recognition by
charging them with common
criminal offenses. It is a clear breach of international human rights
and humanitarian laws, especially
the right to liberty as well as the international standards of fair
trial and other rights of detained and
confined persons.
We,
the families and friends of the victims of enforced disappearance,
support the call of the
political prisoners on the Philippine government to rectify their
erroneous arrest and deprivation of
liberty to pave the way not only for their immediate release but also to
open the door for us to find
our disappeared loved ones.
Most
if not all political prisoners, have invariably disclosed that they have
been subjected to
enforced disappearance and various acts of torture and cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment
during the period of their arrest and custodial investigation. Some of
them have been tortured to
death like the case of the six PICOP (paper factory) workers in Agusan
del Sur in the Southern
Philippines whose tortured and lifeless bodies were burned to ashes by
the members of the 62nd ID
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in October 2000.
While
many among us would like to believe that our dear Desaparecidos
are still unaccounted political
prisoners, the possibility for those who have long been missing to have
been mercilessly killed and
unceremoniously dumped into some unmarked graves nags at our minds.
Enforced disappearance is an abominable tool resorted to by the State to
eschew legitimate arrest
and detention of political and social activists who are conveniently
labeled as “Enemies of the State.”
This also ensures the removal of hard evidence especially in case of
secret disposal of dead bodies. It
gives rise to multiple human rights transgressions as it violates the
basic rights to liberty, due process
of law and ultimately to life. Enforced disappearance undeniably creates
a climate of uncertainty and
terror for the victims and their families and society as a whole.
We,
therefore, strongly urge the Philippine government to comply with its
responsibilities under
international law and fully respect human rights principles by putting
an end to enforced
disappearance and witch hunting as means to stifle political dissent.
One
concrete step that the Philippine government should take is to accede
without reservation to
the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance. The
Convention, which upholds the right to truth and the non-derogability of
the right against enforced
disappearance, requires States to criminalize enforced disappearance in
their statute books.
Should the Philippine government enact an Anti-Enforced Disappearance
law, it will guarantee not
only the prevention of the commission of enforced disappearance but also
the illegal arrest and
detention of political prisoners As the law would require an up-to-date
registry of persons deprived
of liberty among other safeguards against violation of their rights. It
will also serve as a good
example to other Asian States which are facing similar phenomena of
illegal detention and enforced
disappearances.
Time
is indeed of the essence for human rights victims. President Aquino
should act NOW. He
should not treat the on-going hunger strike of political prisoners as
merely a humanitarian issue but
a basic political element towards attaining peace and justice in the
country.
The
President should recognize that the political prisoners are not common
criminals but prisoners
of conscience like his father, the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino Jr. even as he
is duty bound to bring justice
the perpetrators of enforced disappearance from the Marcos regime to his
own dispensation.
♠
ASIAN FEDERATION AGAINST INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCES (AFAD)
&
FAMILIES OF VICTIMS OF INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE (FIND)
