Manila - More than 100 Amnesty International activists took
to the streets in the Philippine capital on Sunday to call for an end
to extrajudicial killings, disappearances and torture in the country.
The activists, wearing yellow cardboard masks with various
messages, marched to a monument in Manila and demanded the government
'break the chain of impunity and deliver justice to victims of human
rights abuses.'
'Amnesty International members are fighting for individuals whose
voices were silenced by extrajudicial killing, bodies and minds
shattered by torture or ill treatment and lives forgotten when they
disappeared,' Aurora Parong, director of Amnesty International
Philippines, said in a speech.
Parong added that activists, journalists and ordinary people 'are
still in serious peril, at risk of being abducted, tortured or
killed' despite efforts by various groups to call on the government
for action.
According to local human rights group Karapatan, nearly 1,000
people have become victims of extra-judicial killings in the
Philippines from January 2001 to December 2008.
More than 200 people have also disappeared and believed to have
been tortured and killed allegedly by government security forces.
The victims are mostly political activists, journalists, labour
leaders and human rights workers.
Amnesty noted that many of the cases were never brought to court
due to lack of evidence or because witnesses were unable to step
forward due to fear of reprisals.
'Families of victims or survivors themselves are afraid to come
out in the open because of the desperate situation of witness
protection in the Philippines,' Parong noted.
'As of now, there is no assurance that the families or victims
will have the law on their side,' she added. 'The Department of
Justice has to immediately correct the weaknesses in the protection
of witnesses or families of victims.'
Arroyo has ordered investigations into extrajudicial killings and
enforced disappearances in the Philippines following mounting
criticism from foreign governments and international organizations.
But activists said Arroyo's actions were not enough, and have
called on her to take more active steps, such as sacking military and
police officers and officials accused of being involved in the
attacks.
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