Human Rights

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on Thursday cautioned the government that the random drug testing of the youth recently ordered by President Gloria Arroyo may violate the human rights of a child.

Human rights advocates have reason to both cheer and jeer about the human rights situation in the country.

by Honesto General from Philippine Daily Inquirer On Dec. 10, in observance of the 60th year of the of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the group Karapatan, at a news briefing in a Quezon City restaurant, presented a 32-page 2008 Human Rights Report, which was featured by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a front-page…

BAGUIO CITY – The Philippines has been tagged among “the deadliest nations for the press.”

The Supreme Court yesterday approved the creation of a P1-million reward fund for informants who can help authorities solve the killings of judges across the country.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday enjoined Filipinos to do their share in ensuring the promotion and protection of human rights and stressed that more effort must be done to improve the human rights situation in the Philippines.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines admitted that it is affected by allegations linking the AFP to cases of human rights violations, particularly incidents of enforced disappearances and summary executions.

The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalist (FFFJ) called on the government anew to address the unsolved killings of journalists, including the cases of 39 newsmen murdered during the administration of President Arroyo.

The Philippines yesterday said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which the country had played a significant role in its drafting 60 years ago, continues to be not only relevant, but vital in promoting peace and security and human development throughout the world.

MANILA, Philippines — The United States Trade Representative (USTR) will keep the country under “active scrutiny” for possible violation of international labor standards in its “no union, no strike” policy in special economic zones that has allegedly resulted in the rise of killings of labor leaders between 2001 and 2007, an official from an international…

Camp Vicente Lim, La­guna – A member of a labor union was gunned down by unidentified men yesterday morning while driving his car along the national highway in Imus, Cavite, police said

Some 400 militant workers staged a picket in front of the Manila Police District headquarters along United Nations Avenue in Ermita yesterday morning to condemn the alleged police brutality in the violent dispersal of their colleagues in front of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) office in Intramuros Thursday night.

WASHINGTON – The Philippines was one of three countries relegated by a private democracy watchdog organization from a list of totally free countries to partly free.

MANILA, Philippines — A New York-based media watchdog on Sunday called on the Philippine government to withdraw a threat to prosecute journalists who get in the way of police operations.

MANILA, Philippines — Only seven cases of unexplained killings of political activists and journalists were handled in 2007 by the Philippine National Police (PNP) task force created to investigate such murders, a sharp drop from the 41 cases it investigated in 2006, according to a yearend report submitted to the Department of Interior and Local…

Malacañang is working hard to uphold human rights in the Philippines under the watch of President Gloria Arroyo.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno introduced far-reaching reforms in the judiciary as 2007 was coming to a close, making authorities answerable to allegations of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

THE Supreme Court has issued a writ of amparo against Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) personnel allegedly responsible for the enforced disappearance of three persons, including two students of the University of the Philippines (UP).

Families of victims of enforced disappearances will now have a legal remedy more effective than the writ of habeas corpus to track down their missing kin.

The United States Senate is set to start an investigation into hundreds of unexplained killings in the Philippines.

DAVAO CITY — A member of the Bayan Muna (People First) party-list who testified during the recent investigation by United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Philip Alston was shot dead in front of her family in Misamis Oriental Saturday afternoon.

Malacañang took as “constructive criticism from an ally” the human rights report of the United States government describing the Philippines as being under a climate of impunity as far as the issue of unsolved killings is concerned.

WASHINGTON – The cases of unsolved and unpunished killings have contributed to a “climate of impunity” in the Philippines, according to the US State Department.

MANILA, Philippines — Unlawful killings and the murder of journalists by various groups went unsolved and unpunished last year, contributing to the climate of impunity in the Philippines, the US State Department said in its annual global human rights report.

THE United States government has criticized the communist New People’s Army for killing local government officials and ordinary civilians and for using land mines, which are banned by the United Nations.

The military on Thursday briefed Asian diplomats on the wave of unsolved political killings after two damning reports implicated the nation’s top commanders.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants the special criminal courts to start trial of summary killings of activists and journalists.

US Embassy officials met with the Task Force Usig on Wednesday and discussed the US government’s offer of assistance to find a solution to political killings.

Malacañang hit yesterday what it called leftist propaganda to undermine the government’s efforts to end the unexplained killings in the country.

United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston said the Philippine military was in “almost total denial” of its need to respond to allegations of its involvement in political killings.