Ampatuan, Copenhagen, India... human rights in 2009

CAP-CPC invites you to Filipino-style coffee house / Kapihan

When: Thursday, December 10, 2009 from 6 pm - 8:30 pm
Where: Café Hubert-Aquin
UQAM - Pavillon Hubert-Aquin
400, Sainte-Catherine East, Montréal
local A-2030 - 2nd floor (Metro Berri-UQAM)

Please join us for a "Kapihan" at Café Hubert-Aquin in Montréal on Thursday, December 17, 2009, from 6 pm - 8:30 pm. It's an evening of coffee, art and politics - Filipino-style with sharing about the human rights situation in the Philippines and elsewhere. We have a thought-provoking lineup of subjects and speakers.

1. Impact of recent Ampatuan massacre on regime of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with Malcolm Guy
2. Discussion on eco-socialism in the wake of Copenhagen with Roger Rashi of Masse Critique
3. Rana Bose - India : Tribal Insurgency and anti-Globalization Struggles

At the same time, you can catch Stefan Christoff's photo exhibit, based on his trip to the Philippines for the International Observers Mission in 2007, which is featured until the end of the year at the very friendly Café Hubert-Aquin.

Malcolm Guy
info: 514 574-9906 (cell)

Ampatuan, Copenhague, l'Inde... et les droits humains

CAP-CPC vous invite au Kapihan, une soirée café-échanges

Quand: jeudi le 17 décembre 18h à 20h
Où: Café Hubert-Aquin
UQAM - Pavillon Hubert-Aquin
400, rue Sainte-Catherine Est, Montréal
local A-2030 - 2e étage (Métro Berri-UQAM)

Vous êtes invité à une soirée "Kapihan" au Café Hubert-Aquin à Montréal le jeudi 17 décembre de 18h00 à 20h30. C'est une soirée de café, art et politique incluant des échanges sur la situation des droits de la personne aux Philippines et ailleurs dans le monde.
1. La situation aux Philippines suite au massacre d'Ampatuan with Malcolm Guy
2. discussion sur l'éco-socialisme et les résultats de Copenhague avec Roger Rashi de Masse Critique
3. Rana Bose - Inde: la lutte des indigènes et l'anti-mondialisation

En même temps, vous aurez l'occasion de visiter l'exposition de photos de Stefan Christoff, prises lors de son voyage aux Philippines en 2007 pour participer à la Mission internationale d'observation.

Malcolm Guy
info: 514 574-9906 (cell)

Coalition of media groups calls for independent probe into massacre of journalists in Ampatuan

(CMFR/SEAPA/IFEX) - 9 December 2009 - The November 23 Movement, a coalition of media groups, including SEAPA, has issued a statement "calling for justice for fellow journalists and other innocent civilians who were abducted, slaughtered and hastily buried in mass graves in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on November 23, 2009."

A CHALLENGE OF CONSCIENCE
A Joint Media Statement

The brutal, indiscriminate mass murder on Monday (November 23, 2009) in Ampatuan town, in Maguindanao province, raises the ultimate challenge of conscience. It carries the culture of impunity at work in this country to such levels of horror that, if it remains unpunished for long, can send the nation into an inexorable descent into absolute dehumanization.

The crime thus calls for swift justice, which can only be achieved through a credible and independent process, which in turn can only be achieved without the hand of this government - a government justly mistrusted generally and openly friendly precisely to the very members of the clan accused in the massacre.

We, ourselves colleagues of the more than a score journalists who were killed, demand the following:

One, the creation of a commission outside the government to investigate the crime;

Two, the arrest and prosecution of all the people involved in it in any way, as murderers themselves or their protectors;

Three, the formation of a special court to try the case;

Four, fully guaranteed protection for the witnesses;

Five, the disarming and dismantling of all private armies, such as those evidently employed in the massacre.

Six, the enlistment of persons of unquestioned probity in the whole process;

And finally, the resignation of the government if it fails to deliver such basic satisfaction - indeed, the very same government that has encouraged, by partisanship and conspiracy, the culture of impunity of which the massacre has been the most abominable manifestation.

* The November 23 Movement is a loose coalition of media organizations calling for justice for fellow journalists and other innocent civilians who were abducted, slaughtered and hastily buried in mass graves in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on November 23, 2009. It has been calling for an independent investigation of the crime that killed 30 journalists in a single attack, suddenly catapulting the Philippines to the position of the world's deadliest place for journalists.

http://www.ifex.org/philippines/2009/12/09/media_groups_coalition/

For more information:
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
2/F Ateneo Professional Schools - Salcedo
130 H.V. dela Costa St., Salcedo Village
Makati City 1227
Philippines
staff (@) cmfr-phil.org
Phone: +632 8400903
Fax: +632 8400889
http://www.cmfr-phil.org

Southeast Asian Press Alliance
Unit 3B, Thakolsuk Place
No. 115 Tetdumri Road
Dusit, Bangkok 10300
Thailand
seapa (@) seapa.org
Phone: +66 2 243 5579
Fax: +66 2 244 8749
http://www.seapa.org

Bulatlat.com
Business World
Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD)
College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)
Davao Today Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ)
MindaNews
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)
Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)
Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project (PHRRP)
Philippine Press Institute (PPI)
Pinoy Weekly People's Journal
______________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
555 Richmond St. West, # 1101, PO Box 407
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 3B1
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts e-mail: alerts(@)ifex.org general e-mail: ifex(@)ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
______________________________________________________

On-line petition to demand justice for victims of Ampatuan massacre and end to impunity in the Philippines

Sign the on-line petition entitled: Strike against Impunity, Strike for Peace and Democracy at the following link:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?Ampatuan

Vigile pour condamner le massacre d'Ampatuan aux Philippines

Quand: mercredi le 2 décembre 2009 de 10h00 à 11h30
Ou: l'Église unie St-James, 463 Rue Ste-Catherine Ouest, Montréal, Qc
Organisé par le Centre d'appui aux Philippines, le Réseau de solidarité avec les Philippines - Canada, la Compagne pour faire cesser les assassinats politiques aux Philippines (STKP) et La ligue internationale de luttes des peuples - Canada

Vigil to demand justice for victims of Ampatuan Massacre in the Philippines

When: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 10 am - 11:30 am
Where: St. James United Church, 463 Ste-Catherine Street West, Montreal, Qc
Organized by Centre d'appui aux Philippines - Centre for Philippine Concerns, Philippine Solidarity Network - Canada, Stop the Killings in the Philippines, International League of People's Struggle - Canada

The Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC) condemns the Ampatuan Massacre in the Philippines and demands justice for all victims

Montréal, Québec, Canada - November 28, 2009

The Centre d'appui aux Philippines / Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC) vehemently condemns the barbaric massacre of at least 57 people, including many women and children, 29 journalists, and human rights lawyers on November 23, 2009 in Ampatuan, Maguindanao on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

The victims were abducted and executed by approximately 100 gunmen while en route to file election papers for Ismael Mangudadatu as a candidate for governor of Maguindanao in the May 2010 elections. The candidate was not with the entourage as he had received death threats.

The 29 journalist victims constitute the largest group of media personnel killed in a single incident in the world. Twenty-four of the victims were women including the candidate’s wife and sisters and two lawyers, Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo. Many of the victims were beheaded and mutilated; some of the women were raped.

It signals the opening round of what we fear to be an extremely bloody lead up to the Presidential elections in May 2010 in which entrenched forces will use any means to maintain control behind a facade of democracy.

Police have named as the chief suspect, Andal Amputuan Jr., son of the three-term governor of Maguindanao province and a powerful supporter of the Lakas Kampi colation led by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Andal Ampatuan Jr. was being groomed to take over his father’s position as Governor. He was assisted by senior police officials, local police and paramilitary forces who function as a private army of the Ampatuan clan. An earth digger registered to the provincial government was even on hand to bury the victims in common graves prepared in advance.

The Ampatuans are governors of both Maguindanao and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and the family includes a cabinet undersecretary, congressmen and several town mayors . These warlords delivered large numbers of questionable votes to the ruling coalition of President Arroyo in the 2004 and 2007 elections. The town nearest the massacre site carries the family's name.

The Ampatuan warlords apparently consider themselves untouchable because of their loyal ties to the Arroyo government. A climate of impunity reigns for human rights violators and mass murderers in the Philippines.

Since 2001 over 800 people have been killed in the Philippines, all of them in some way seen as opponents or critics of the regime led by President Arroyo. The dead include peasants, lawyers (22), judges (15), opposition politicians, journalists and other members of civil society as well as 51 incidents of massacres victimizing 255 persons.

These extra-judicial killings are perceived to be a result of the U.S.- initiated counter-insurgency plan to eliminate the New People’s Army - Operation Plan Freedom Watch (Oplan Bantay Laya - OBL). The OBL was first ceated by the Arroyo regime in 2002 as a 5-year plan and extended in 2007 with the support and encouragement of the U.S. Government under its “global war on terror” policies. There have been no proper investigations of these extrajudicial killings and only one prosecution and conviction.

In the case of the Ampatuan massacre, it took four days before the principal suspect was taken into custody and only after intense public outcry for justice. The Arroyo government’s initial response was to declare a state of emergency in the province which would be enforced, of course, by the local state apparatus controlled by the Ampatuans.

Over the past few years, the Arroyo government has given the Ampatuan clan the authority to recruit and arm civilians to assist in fighting “insurgents” in the region. As a result, the Ampatuans now have a 500-strong army, which includes entire regular military and police units assigned to ensure the security of the clan members, as well as 200 special armed civilian auxiliary forces. These paramilitary forces of the Civilian Volunteer Organization (CVO) and Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit (CAFGU) are officially designated and financed by Manila as auxiliaries of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in line with Oplan Bantay Laya.

Through its continuing support for OBL, Washington bears responsibility for this crime against humanity. The US military considers Mindanao strategic for its forces in this part of the world. It maintains military facilities on the island in direct violation of the Philippine Constitution. It has conducted at least seven military exercises in Mindanao since 2001, poured in millions of dollars of military aid and has trained local security forces to enhance “interoperability” with US troops.

Ottawa also shares responsibility. Canadian mining companies are active in several islands of the Philippines including mineral-rich Mindanao and are known to use local private security forces as well as the AFP and PNP to protect their interests.

In a statement, the Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) and Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) pointed out that in 2007, Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur for extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, made a number of recommendations to prevent further and punish past extrajudicial killings.

Their statement reads: (Alston's) recommendation that, “(C)onvictions in a significant number of extrajudicial executions must be achieved” has not been implemented. His recommendation that, “IALAG [Inter-active Legal Agency Group] should be abolished, and the criminal justice system should refocus on investigating and prosecuting those committing extrajudicial executions and other serious crimes” has not been implemented. His recommendation that “(H)uman rights should be safeguarded within the peace movement” has not been implemented.

The statement concludes: “The Philippine government failed to take effective steps to prevent or punish those extrajudicial killings, in spite of the careful recommendations of Professor Alston. That failure violated the Philippine government’s primary legal duty to protect the right to life and to ensure adequate criminal and civil remedies when that right is violated. It also created the climate of impunity that encouraged and allowed the November 23 2009 massacre. For a period of over eight years, the Philippine government has on the one hand refused, and on the other, demonstrated a lack of capacity, to carry out the investigations required by both international law (binding on the Philippines) and domestic law.”

The Stop the Killings in the Philippines Network and the Philippine Solidarity Network - Canada calls on all justice-loving people to denounce the Ampatuan Massacre and all other extra-judicial killings in the Philippines, demand an independent international probe of these killings, and condemn the Arroyo government for coddling mass murderers and human rights violators as well as its direct implication in the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

We demand the dismantling of the private armies of the warlords in Maguindanao Province as well as other parts of the Philippines and the immediate rescinding of Executive Order 546 created by the Philippine government in July, 2006 which allows local politicians to convert and fund their private armies as legal entities in the counter-insurgency program.

We demand that those responsible for this attack as well as those involved in the more than 1,000 extrajudicial killings perpetrated with impunity, be they hired thugs or ranking officials in the government and its police and armed forces, be immediately investigated and made to face prosecution and such further actions as required by local and international law.

Too many people have died, the bloodbath and the climate of impunity must stop now.

JUSTICE FOR THE VICTIMS OF AMPATUAN MASSACRE!
JUSTICE TO ALL VICTIMS OF EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS!
STOP THE KILLINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES!

Annex:

Given the intimate ties of the Ampatuans and other forces in the Philippines with the U.S.-backed Arroyo government, there is no reason to expect that any fact-finding body or investigation initiated by the present Philippine government will be credible or will bring justice to the victims of massacres and other human rights violations in the Philippines.

To this end we join with other lawyers and human rights organizations around the globe in demanding:

1. The appointment of a team of professional investigators from outside the Philippines;
a) qualified in the various necessary aspects of criminal investigations,
b) absolutely independent of the Arroyo regime; and
c) authorized to compel production of evidence and examine witnesses; and
d) mandated to conduct a thorough, transparent and accountable inquiry into the 57 murders that occurred on November 23, 2009; as well as put into place the mechanisms for uncovering the facts and responsibility behind the other political killings and forced disappearances, and
e) mandated to make recommendations for the prosecution of the suspected perpetrators identified by the inquiry and to make recommendations of alternatives in the event that the Philippine courts are unable or unwilling to proceed with the prosecutions recommended.
2. Monitor and assure the safety of others likely to be under attack, including the witnesses.