"Stop the killings now!" marchers in Hong Kong demand

By Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
November 20, 2006

HONG KONG  –  Hundreds of people on Sunday marched through Hong Kong as part of an international day of action to demand that the killings of human rights defenders and social activists in the Philippines be ended without delay, and the perpetrators of killings be brought to justice.

"Stop the killings now!" cried over 400 persons who walked from the central district to the Philippines consulate.

The marchers, from religious, labour and human rights organizations based in Hong Kong, including four major Filipino alliances, the Filipino Migrant Union, Philippine Independent Church, Helpers of Islam (Filipinas), Thai Regional Alliance, and the Association of Indonesian Migrant Workers, called on the Philippines government to stop denying the extent of the killings and start doing something about them.

"If the government spent as much time and effort to end the killings and investigate those that have already occurred as it does in trying to deny responsibility then many lives could already have been saved," Bruce Van Voorhis of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a co-organiser of the event, told the gathering.

The participants carried banners and posters with the photographs of victims, including Archbishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church, who was stabbed to death at the start of October.

The hands of the military and other state agencies could be clearly seen in the pattern of killings, speakers said.

"Why is it that only peasant and union leaders, human rights activists and others working simply for the benefit of ordinary people are being murdered?" Rey Asis of the Asian Students Association said.

"We are outraged that not even one killing has been solved," Asis said.

Human rights groups have put the number of killings in recent years at over 750; however, police investigators and government officials in the Philippines have consistently played down the scale of violence.

"It is normal to be faced with denial and hostility when plainly stating that such barbaric acts are going on in a society almost daily," Basil Fernando, executive director of the AHRC, told the demonstrators.

"Some people, such as the president in the Philippines, will have their eyes and ears closed for as long as possible, until they are forced to open them," Fernando said.

"Shout louder and they must hear, they must see," he urged.

"End the killings now!" Fernando reiterated.

Angkhana Neelaphaijit, a human rights defender from Thailand whose husband was abducted by the police in 2004, also addressed the crowd.

"We have the same kind of injustices in Thailand and I want to assure the people of the Philippines that we share their experiences and their determination to fight," Angkhana said.

The marchers laid flowers at the front of the photographs of victims before dispersing.

Later a delegation from the march went to the consulate to present the findings of the report on the killings of the Hong Kong Mission for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines.

The report is available online at: http://www.pinoyhr.net/reports/missionreport.pdf.

The mission's report, which was prepared after an investigation in July, has had to be updated due to the relentless killings that have occurred since.

The Hong Kong-based AHRC has issued appeals on the killings of at least six persons and attempted killing of three since the start of October alone.

The international campaign calling for an end to the killings has gained speed in recent months.

An online-petition demanding an end to the killings has so far attracted almost 6000 signatories from all around the globe.