US rights report casts wide net; ‘salvaging,’ disappearances remain major PH problems

WASHINGTON — The US State Department issued its annual “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2015” on Wednesday, pointing the finger at alleged rights abuses around the globe.

Few countries emerged with an entirely flawless record.

The Philippines did not fare too well, with the report noting: “The most significant human rights problems continued to be extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances undertaken by security forces, insurgents, and suspected vigilante groups; a weak and overburdened criminal justice system notable for poor cooperation between police and investigators, a meager record of prosecutions and lengthy procedural delays; and widespread official corruption and abuse of power.”

Here are other key findings in the report released by Secretary of State John Kerry:

China – China saw the repression and coercion of civil and political rights activists “markedly increase” last year, highlighting in particular a “severe” crackdown on lawyers defending citizens in sensitive cases.

Cuba – The United States renewed diplomatic relations with its former Cold War this year, but has not turned down its criticism of the communist government, which the report says uses violence, censorship and arbitrary detentions to quell dissent.

Egypt – As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi solidifies his grip on Egypt, a major recipient of US military aid, his government dissolved around 500 non-governmental organizations last year, amid reports of extra-judicial killings and torture.

France – The United States’ European allies are not accused of the kind of large-scale persecution seen elsewhere, but problems remain. The report cites allegations that French troops deployed to the Central African Republic sexually abused children.

Germany – German authorities did not murder or disappear any dissidents last year, but the United States feels their ban on some neo-Nazi discourse is an affront to free expression and that Scientologists are discriminated against in some areas.

India – The world’s biggest democracy is also a big seedbed of corruption, which hampers attempts to prevent “extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape” by security forces and “violence based on gender, religious affiliation, and caste or tribe.”

Iran – The Islamic republic signed a nuclear deal with world powers last year to win sanctions relief for its economy, but the political space has not opened up. The report cites abuses of judicial due process leading to an escalating execution rate.

Israel – Aside from allegations of excessive force used by Israeli forces policing the occupation of the West Bank, the report says Israeli Arabs, Bedouin, Ethiopian Israelis and non-Orthodox Jews face social and economic discrimination within Israel.

North Korea – It remains difficult to get an accurate picture of life inside Pyongyang’s isolated pariah state, but “defectors continued to report extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, arrests of political prisoners, and torture.”

Russia – Vladimir Putin’s government has stepped up its crackdown on domestic opponents and harassment of civil society groups within Russia, and persecutes Ukrainians and Tatars who refuse to accept Russian nationality in the occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea.

Rwanda – Reformist president Paul Kagame’s government was once Washington’s darling in Africa, but as he has prolonged his rule after changing term limits, US monitors have noted “government harassment, arrest and abuse of political opponents.”

Tajikistan – Kerry brought up human rights several times as he toured Central Asia last year but little has changed: Tajikistan banned its main opposition party after it lost its two parliamentary seats in a vote that was “not administered in a fair manner.”

Turkey – Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards wrestled with journalists when the Turkish leader visited Washington last month, a pale imitation of how his government acts at home, using anti-terror laws to drive opposition media outlets out of business.

Venezuela – As President Nicolas Maduro struggles to maintain his leftist administration’s hold on power, he has lashed out at the press, through a law that punishes what the government deems “untrue” reporting with jail terms of up to five years.

The report’s section on the Philippines noted other human rights abuses such as torture and abuse of prisoners, the harassment of human rights activists, lengthy pretrial detentions, overcrowding and inadequate prison conditions, media killings and harassment, mistreatment of internally displaced persons, violence against women, abuse of children, human trafficking, limited access for persons with disabilities, lack of full integration of indigenous people into political and economic structures, absence of law and policy to protect persons from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, child labor and ineffective enforcement of worker rights.

It said the government “continued to investigate and prosecute only a limited number of reported human rights abuses, including abuses by its own forces, paramilitaries, and insurgent/terrorist groups” while “concerns about impunity of national and local government officials, security force members, and powerful business and commercial figures persisted.”

The report on the Philippines took note of the murders in Lianga, Surigao del Sur last September 1 of Emerito Samarca, administrator of the Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, and Manobo leaders Dionel Campos and Datu Bello Sinzo by the Magahat Bagani militia.

The murders triggered the evacuation of thousands of lumad and farmers from several Surigao del Sur towns, many of whom remain at the sports center in the provincial capital Tandag City.

It also noted that “government forces acknowledged 70 civilian deaths in the course of military operations against insurgent groups as of October” even as it also blamed rebel groups, including the New People’s Army, of civilian deaths. –Agence France-Presse | InterAksyon.com