AFP stands out in UN chief’s report for violating children’s rights – Interaksyon.com.

Carlos H. Conde

MANILA, Philippines – The soldiers descended on the Lumad (tribal) villages of Lianga where, according to human rights and tribal groups, they put up checkpoints that restricted the movement of residents and imposed a blockade that severely constrained the food supply to the communities.

The militarization of the villages in Lianga and two other towns of Surigao del Sur, in the southern Philippines, in 2008 and 2009 also forced hundreds of villagers to evacuate.

The children at two schools specially built for the Manobo tribe – the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development and the Tribal Filipino Program of Surigao del Sur – suffered the most as a result of the militarization, according to advocacy groups. Because of the food blockade, children would go to school on empty or half-empty stomachs. Worse, classes had to be suspended.

Soldiers also descended on the school itself, where they would harass and taunt students and teachers, according to a report first published in the online news site Bulatlat.com. Worse, the military branded the two schools, which have won recognition from the government and are run by a Lumad organization called Mapasu with the cooperation of the local Catholic diocese and the NGO Sildap, “communist fronts.”

What happened to the two tribal schools are emblematic – and in some sense an extreme case study – of a phenomenon in the Philippines and elsewhere of government and rebel forces occupying schools, disrupting not only the learning process of the students, but the lives of whole communities as well.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, in an annual report on children and armed conflict he delivered to the UN Security Council and made public Thursday, revealed that 15 of the 22 “country situations” the UN monitored involved attacks on schools and hospitals.

“I am concerned about the increasing trend of attacks on schools and hospitals,” Ban said in the report.

Read full article @ InterAksyon.com

Related articles

• [In the news] Jonas Burgos’ mother to Maj. Harry Baliaga Jr.: Name the mastermind behind my son’s abduction – Interaksyon.com (hronlineph.wordpress.com)
• [In the news] MABINI ‘committee’ opposes Libingan burial for Marcos – Interaksyon.com (hronlineph.wordpress.com)
• [In the news] Activists to greet ‘citizen Merci’ with barrage of cases – Interaksyon.com (hronlineph.wordpress.com)
• [In the news]Mothers of missing UP students file complaint vs Palparan – Interaksyon.com (hronlineph.wordpress.com)