. USMC Marines assigned to the 2nd Marine Division are conducting counter-insurgency operations with Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/expertinfantry/ (CC by 2.0) / Photo credit https://www.flickr.com/photos/expertinfantry/ (CC by 2.0)On 1 May 2003, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, President George W. Bush declared victory in Iraq. This optimism proved to be... Read more
Photo credit Angie de Silva for Rappler... Read more
Photo credit Angie de Silva for Rappler... Read more
General public event with speaker: Ellecer “Budit” Carlos, Spokesperson for the human rights coalition iDefend
In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDefend) is a formation of over 50 human right and grassroots organizations, NGOs, and other cause oriented groups aiming to counter-act the declining adherence to human rights and the rule of law, and act as a platform for citizens to obtain a rights-based governance and sustainable development. iDefend asserts and defends the Filipino people’s rights towards the fulfillment of a dignified life for all, by engaging government policy, making duty bearers accountable and promoting public awareness on and adherence to human rights. iDefend actively transforms collective voices into public action and calls on other concerned citizens and groups to support and join its ranks so that Filipinos can effectively claim and defend their basic entitlements.
IDefend is especially campaigning against the “war on drugs” of President Duterte, which cost over 7000 lives so far, the re-imposition of the dead penalty, the vilification of human rights defenders and deliberate distortion of human rights principles. The Philippine government regards the victims - mostly urban poor - as ‘not part of humanity’. The ‘war on drugs’ has not spared children, a number of whom were specifically targeted for execution.
The Duterte administration has refused to address and investigate the steep rise in extra-judicial killings, perpetrated by both uniformed personnel and unidentified ‘vigilantes’, whose signature modes of execution belie official claims that the victims fought back.
iDefend organised a march, candle lighting, and ringing of bells after the first 100 days of Duterte / Photo credit Galileo de Guzman CastilloIn 2016, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte placed his country prominently on the global radar screen—too prominently, in the opinion of some Filipinos.... Read more
Until now, however, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) – the UN agencies responsible for global drug control – have failed to condemn the Philippines for these gross human rights violations committed in the name of drug control.... Read more
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte leading the blowing of horns during the Torotot Festival 2015 in Davao City / Photo credit Wikimedia Commons A year ago, few believed that Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of the city of Davao on the island of Mindanao would be the next president of the Philippines. Duterte had achieved a reputation as a Filipino “Dirty Harry,” one who boasted that he got rid of criminals and... Read more
ISDS is a mechanism engraved in (bilateral) investment treaties or an investment chapter of trade agreements which allows multinational corporations to sue governments in ad hoc tribunals. It is an extrajudicial system with special privileges and rights just for one class: Foreign investors, giving them more power relatively to citizens and governments.
