Human Rights

BRUSSELS – 2009 was one of the worst for the targeted killing of media workers, with 113 lives lost, a leading watchdog said Thursday and called on governments to do more to protect reporters.

NEW YORK – The November massacre of 30 media workers in the Philippines made 2009 the deadliest year ever for journalists, according to a report to be released today.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Have officials of the Commission on Human Rights and their foreign guests gone on vacation after that tiring trip to Maguindanao to register their concern for the massacre victims in Ampatuan country?

On International Human Rights Day December 10, a United Nations official criticized the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for denying the petition of gays and lesbians to accredit a sectoral party and dismissed fears about martial law imposed in Maguindanao.

NEW YORK, United States — The Philippines overwhelmingly won another three-year term in the Committee on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (CMW), the Philippine Mission to the United Nations said in a statement Wednesday.

The Philippine National Police yesterday assured the workers of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) of their personal safety and security, more particularly during the conduct of field investigations and other official activities.

GENEVA — Investigations into the deaths of 57 people in an election-related massacre in southern Philippines must be the start of a major reform process in the country, two United Nations human rights experts said on Wednesday.

SAYS HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP MANILA, Philippines—The newly created Asean Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights, together with the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, should monitor the way the Philippine government handles the investigation into the Maguindanao massacre.

MANILA, Philippines – The government will set standards in probing human rights violations.

MANILA, Philippines – Commission on Human Rights chairperson Leila M. de Lima encourages all cause-oriented groups, non-government organizations, peo-ple’s organizations, the academe and other sectoral organizations to support the creation of a new and effective Human Rights program.

MANILA, Philippines – A New York State Supreme Court justice has ruled that the 10,000 human rights victims during the 20-year rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos can lay claim to the $35-million Arelma deposits to partially satisfy the $2-billion indemnity awarded to them by a jury in 1995.

President Arroyo yesterday signed into law the Anti-Torture Act of 2009 in Malacañang, obligating her government to provide protection to Filipinos’ human rights by going after perpetrators of such acts of abuse.

Members of the House of Representatives are calling on President Arroyo to sign into law the proposed Anti-Torture Act which was transmitted to Malacañang last Oct.13.

The Philippines was ranked anew among the most dangerous places for journalists so far this year as the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) released data yesterday showing 54 journalists having been reported killed while in the line of duty with seven deaths in the Philippines.

A farmers group has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to hand down a writ of amparo and habeas data to stop the states security forces from undertaking acts of abuse against them in Aurora province.

BALANGA City: The labor union head of Dunlop Slazenger at the Bataan Economic Zone suffered four gunshot wounds but miraculously survived the ambush staged by still unidentified men some meters away from his residence in Mountain View, Mariveles on Wednesday.

HUA HIN, THAILAND—ASIAN leaders barely mentioned Burma’s (Myanmar’s) democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at a weekend summit, making a mockery of the region’s grand claims for its new rights body, analysts said.

HUA HIN — Asian leaders barely mentioned Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi at a weekend summit, making a mockery of the region’s grand claims for its new rights body, analysts said.

Victims of forcible abductions and torture speak out xistentialist Friedrich Nietzsche famously observed, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” To Axel Pinpin, an activist once allegedly abducted and tortured, knows all too well that this philosophy holds true. And he learned it the hard way. Nowadays, three years since his abduction, Pinpin…

HUA HIN, Thailand–Southeast Asian leaders were strongly criticized on Friday after launching a widely derided human rights body and barring activists from a key meeting at a regional summit.

HUA HIN, Thailand: Southeast Asian leaders launched a widely criticized new human rights body on Friday at a regional summit where they will also grapple with plans for economic and political integration.

HUA HIN (AFP)– Southeast Asian leaders are to officially launch a “historic” human rights body on Friday, despite criticisms that it will be too soft on members such as military-ruled Myanmar.

The United Nations urged Asian nations to make their new regional human rights body “credible” Thursday, as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) prepared for its official launch.

BANGKOK — Southeast Asian nations are set to unveil a landmark human rights watchdog this week, but critics charge it will be a toothless body that includes in its membership one of the world’s worst human rights offenders—military-ruled Burma (Myanmar).

Officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) received flak for ignoring the invitation of civil society organizations for them to attend the opening plenary of the 2nd Asean Peoples’ Forum (APF)/5th Asean Civil Society Conference (ACSC) in Cha-am, Thailand on Sunday.

BANGKOK: Closer economic ties and ways of coping better with devastating natural disasters in the region will be on the agenda as Asian leaders gather in Thailand this week, analysts and diplomats said. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meets Friday in the resort town of Hua Hin for its annual summit, followed by…

MANILA, Philippines – The European Commission (EC) has extended €3.9-million (about P270-million) technical assistance to the Philippine government to address extra-legal or extra-judicial killings.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The Philippine media took center stage in the just concluded general assembly of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ) held at the Nikko Hotel here from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, with the election to the regional vice presidency of National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) president, Benny Diaz Antiporda.

Envoy finds few convictions ‘regrettable’ MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) The European Union on Thursday said it would give 3.9 million euros (about $5.8 million or P270 million) to the Philippines to help the government stop extra-judicial killings and disappearances of activists.

MANILA – Philippine courts are not cooperating in the investigation of vigilante killings that have claimed nearly 1,000 lives in the country’s south, Human Rights Watch said.