U.S.
forces have teamed up with the Philippines’ military to combat
terrorist groups in the country, ostensibly to bring about peace. But
numerous human rights violations have sprung up in their wake and
some believe that the U.S.’ ultimate goal may be to oust President
Rodrigo Duterte.
by
Joe Catron
Part
3 - Human rights violations abound amid U.S. intervention
Before the
Marawi crisis erupted, years of U.S. involvement had already taken a
grisly toll in Mindanao and across the Philippines, according to the
country’s human rights advocates.
“U.S.
intervention through military and political means on the affairs of
Mindanao and the Philippines has resulted in countless violations of
human and people’s rights such as massacres, torture and other
grave crimes especially against the Moro peoples, to blatant
disregard of the country’s sovereignty and patrimony, and to the
worsening of social injustices and discrimination against Moro and
Lumad peoples,” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the
KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights.
In Marawi,
she added, “Human rights violations have been committed with
graver impunity especially with the continuing implementation of the
U.S.-driven counterinsurgency program, all-out war declaration
against the people, the anti-poor war on drugs and martial law
declaration in Mindanao.”
These abuses
fit an established historic pattern of the U.S. and its allies using
anti-terror rhetoric to justify their repression of popular
struggles, regardless of the human toll, according to Reverend
Michael Yoshii, a global council member of the International Council
on Human Rights in the Philippines
“In the
case of the Philippines, this has led to hundreds of extrajudicial
killings targeting human rights advocates seeking social change in
the country,” he said.
“The
war on terror continues to be a nebulous reality that needs to be
reigned in as innocent civilians like those in Marawi have become
collateral damage in these campaigns.”
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