Survey shows military needs further human rights training

A RECENT survey conducted by the European Union has shown the need for further education and training on human rights from the ranks of the military.

“They [soldiers] have the kind of awareness that I would like to congratulate… but there is [still] room for improvement… education and human rights philosophy should be taken into account,” Col. Karl Bernhard Mueller, a military expert for the European Union-Philippines Justice Support (EPJUST) program, said in a chance interview after a forum on human rights and armed conflicts yesterday.

“[The military] should learn a lot [about human rights], which is not easy… [The EU] will develop their training capabilities and one day, they will be able to convince everyone that human rights is the key foundation in each operation on the ground,” he added.

EPJUST, a program that seeks to help address human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings, conducted the human rights awareness survey last July among 1,700 randomly chosen soldiers from the 9th Infantry Division in Pili, Camarines Sur; Philippine Military Academy in Baguio City; Training and Doctrine Command in Tarlac; Scout Ranger Regiment in Tanay, Rizal; and naval training center in San Antonio, Zambales.

For its part, the Department of National Defense (DND) noted continuing programs to instill the need to uphold human rights among military personnel especially those engaged in combat.

“The DND has inculcated human rights training in many of AFP’s (Armed Forces of the Philippines) education and training programs. It has also established the AFP Human Rights Office to have a constant monitoring body… that would ensure our soldiers’ compliance with human rights conventions,” Defense Undersecretary Honorio S. Azcueta in a statement.

“However, these efforts and state policies would be rendered ineffective without the cooperation of civil society organizations and other government agencies.”

Meanwhile, Alistair Macdonald, EU ambassador to the Philippines, said in a chance interview at the same event that the Philippines can recover from the hostage taking in Manila that killed eight Hong Kong tourists.

“This could have happened anywhere. There have [also] been tragic incidents in other countries. I don’t think that [EU] investors react to an individual case. I don’t think there was any particular impact but the ongoing perception of a country where violence happened is something which is certainly discouraging for investors,” he said.

The government starts today its probe of the Aug. 23 incident when former Senior Inspector Rolando D. Mendoza hijacked a tourist bus that ended in a bloody siege in front of Quirino Grandstand. He was killed after a 10-hour standoff. — ARRG, Businessworld