[From the web] Passage of law protecting human rights workers sought

Passage of law protecting human rights workers sought by House of Representatives of the Philippines A lawmaker has urged Congress to enact a law that will protect human rights workers and penalize any member of the military, police, and other security forces that will violate the proposed act. Rep. Neri Colmenares (Party-list, Bayan Muna), author…

Human Rights Online Philippines

November 15, 2011

1–2 minutes

Advocacy Organizations, Bayan Muna, Contemporary hit radio, Forced disappearance, Human Right, Human Rights and Liberties, Human rights defender, Philippine

Passage of law protecting human rights workers sought
by House of Representatives of the Philippines

A lawmaker has urged Congress to enact a law that will protect human rights workers and penalize any member of the military, police, and other security forces that will violate the proposed act.

Rep. Neri Colmenares (Party-list, Bayan Muna), author of House Bill 5379,said despite the international recognition of the importance of human rights defenders in the Philippines, “human rights advocates in the country are reportedly being killed, abducted, kidnapped, arrested arbitrarily and harassed by military and police personnel.”

Colmenares said even immediate family members and other relatives of human rights defenders are being harassed and threatened by security forces.

He noted that of the 1,206 victims of extrajudicial killings in the country, 476 were human rights defenders (HRDs). Of the 206 victims of enforced disappearance, 68 were human rights workers.

Colmenares said a big number of these human rights violations occurred during the Arroyo government.

“Scores from their ranks have been threatened, physically assaulted, tortured, harassed and treated cruelly and inhumanely. These violations are continuously being committed with impunity by government security forces,” Colmenares said.

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