RP ranks 3rd in Southeast Asia for most people displaced by armed conflict

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines ranks third after Burma and Indonesia in the list of countries in Southeast Asia with the most number of people displaced by internal armed conflict, according to Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez.

Citing data from the United Nations, Rodriguez said the country is among the top 40 nations all over the world where internal displacement is considered a significant phenomenon.

“After the breakdown of the Mindanao peace process during August and September 2008, a new round of armed conflict began. The United Nations claims that around 500,000 persons – Christians and Muslims including at least 300,000 infants and children – were displaced from their homes (and live) without the basic necessities of life,” he said.

According to Rodriguez, the Asia America Initiative, in response, conducted in mid-September an emergency humanitarian relief mission and visited refugee camps in war-torn communities in the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Cotabato.

Other data gathered by the Moro-Christian People’s Alliance (MCPA) placed the estimated number of displaced persons in Mindanao at 600,000 in 2008.

“This figure sums up the number of internally displaced persons from the most devastating all-out wars in Mindanao from the state of lawlessness in Basilan in 2001, which displaced nearly 80,000; the war in Northern and Central Mindanao in 2003, which displaced some 450,000 persons, and the war in Sulu in 2005, which displaced nearly 80,000 persons,” Rodriguez said, citing MCPA’s report.

The MCPA is a grassroots organization of Muslims and Christians working on peace and conflict transformation in the country from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Amnesty International, a human rights non-government organization also based in Geneva, came out with a report in September 2009 saying that the war in Mindanao during the last 17 months had the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world with more than 750,000 people forced out of their homes, he said.

To protect the displaced people, Rodriguez and his younger brother, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, urged the government to strengthen the country’s human rights laws and to focus on the guiding principles on internal displacement set forth by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR).

The lawmakers authored House Bill 48, also known as the Internal Displacement Act of 2010, to improve Philippine commitment to human rights protection by providing the necessary mechanisms on the prevention of occurrence and the protection of internally displaced people (IDP) from the adverse effects of armed conflicts.

Counterinsurgency causes displacement

The government’s counterinsurgency operations and related military activities under its war on terrorism are one of the leading causes of conflict-induced displacement in the country, especially in Mindanao where ethnic groups have been struggling for autonomy for the last 30 years, he said.

Under the measure, rights of persons during displacement, regardless of the circumstances and without discrimination, shall include access to essential and adequate food and nutrition and potable water, basic shelter and housing, appropriate clothing and essential medical and dental services and sanitation, including psychological and social services, essential drugs and medicine.

Rodriguez said the measure provides that the military and law enforcement agencies conducting operations, the departments of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Health, as well as concerned government hospitals and LGUs concerned shall provide immediate relief and humanitarian assistance to IDPs, families and communities.

Those found violating the provisions of the bill shall face 20 years’ imprisonment.

The amount necessary for the implementation of the proposed Act shall be charged against the current budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), DSWD, Department of National Defense, Department of the Interior and Local Government and National Disaster Coordinating Council.

AFP urged to observe human rights

Meanwhile, a human rights watchdog said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) need to take effective measures to prevent unlawful killings and hold abusive soldiers to account.

In a letter to AFP chief of staff Gen. Ricardo David Jr., Human Rights Watch urged David to address unexplained killings, abusive paramilitary forces, and alleged mistreatment of the Morong 43, who have been detained since February on firearms charges.

“General David has made positive statements about human rights and efforts to raise rights awareness among the troops,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But real change requires prosecuting soldiers who commit crimes.”

Philippine military personnel, including officers, and paramilitary force members have been implicated in hundreds of unexplained killings and enforced disappearances since 2001. There had also already been 20 reported political killings under the Aquino administration.

Human Rights Watch said there has not been a single conviction of an active duty soldier for a politically motivated killing, despite substantial evidence of military involvement in a number of cases.

The group urged David to discipline officers who facilitate abuses and to ensure that members of the military comply with requests from both military and civilian bodies investigating alleged abuses, and discipline troops who fail to do so.

“Philippine history shows that using armed but barely trained civilians as paramilitary forces instead of professional security forces is counterproductive,” Human Rights Watch said.

The group acknowledged that the armed forces are involved in military operations against the communist New People’s Army (NPA) and other armed groups that have long been responsible for serious abuses.

Abuses by one party to a conflict never justify abuses by the other, and a professional and well-disciplined armed force, it said, is essential for winning the public’s trust and support in counterinsurgency operations.

“General David has the opportunity to radically improve the reputation of the Philippine army,” Pearson said. “A professional armed force that holds abusive soldiers to account would be a fitting legacy for the chief of staff.” –-Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) with Pia Lee-Brago