Women human rights defenders in Asia and the Pacific say:

Stop the killings in the Philippines now!

By KARAPATAN
September 10, 2017

QUEZON CITY – More than a hundred women from different countries in Asia and the Pacific joined the #BlackFriday protest against extrajudicial killings in the Philippines held last September 8, 2017, in Chiangmai, Thailand, in the sidelines of the 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF) organized by the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD).

“We, participants from the Philippines at the third Asia-Pacific Feminist Forum, joined by our sisters in the Asia-Pacific region, condemn in the strongest sense, the unabated killings in the Philippines in the context of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs and Oplan Kapayapaan,” they said in a statement.

The women added “State-sponsored killings in the Philippines have become relentlessly horrendously, victimizing the poor and marginalized. State-sponsored killings in the Philippines have become relentlessly horrendously, victimizing the poor and marginalized. The latest victims are: Kian Delos Santos, Carl Angelo Arnaiz, Reynaldo de Guzman, Obillo Bay-Ao, Vaugh Carl M. Dicang, Luardo Yac, Oscar Asildo Jr. and Jezreel and Dalia Arrabis.”

Shirley Tagi, artist and member of the DIVA for Equality in Fiji, offered songs in solidarity with the Philippines. Women human rights defenders from at least twenty countries (Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Fiji, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Laos) participated in the said protest action.

“Thousands of poor people have been killed since President Rodrigo Duterte came into power last year. Peasants and indigenous peoples have been killed as Duterte continues to implement the State’s dirty war against its perceived enemies. His war on drugs has resulted to killings and gross violations on the right to due process in urban poor communities. The climate of impunity has worsened, with Duterte’s war on drugs and counter-insurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan, promoting further unpeace,” they added in the statement.

“We demand an immediate end to the killings. We demand a transparent and sift investigation on the killings! We demand that perpetrators be held fully accountable!” they concluded.

On the last night of the APFF, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte won the Insulting Intelligence award in the What The…Mock Poll by the APWLD among the more than 350 participants of the forum. On the poll with the question “Who displayed the most misogyny, sexism, homophobia or transphobia and made a public statement that was illogical, irrational or blatantly false?,” majority of the participants answered Duterte, citing his authorised killing of 13,000 in the war against drugs, declared martial law in Mindanao, ending peace talks and encouraging the military to rape women amid the conflict.