DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/18 June) - Indigenous peoples’ groups and a
coalition of local and international organizations have been holding
rounds of consultations for a “shadow report” that will contest a
document that government will submit to the United Nations Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) in Geneva,
Switzerland by the end of this month.
The government, which is taking its turn in the rotating leadership
of UNCERD this year, has committed to comply with the committee’s
June 30 deadline in submitting an assessment of its performance in
complying with substantive articles in the Geneva conventions. The
articles are enshrined in agreements concerning, among others, the
respect for human rights, economic and social rights, political and
civil rights, and other protocols that protect discrimination of
indigenous peoples.
Cathal Doyle, a rights activist affiliated with the Irish Centre for
Human Rights, said during a break in the “shadow report”
consultation here Tuesday that they are anticipating that government
would highlight its accomplishment in passing an indigenous peoples’
rights law but downplays incidents of violations of economic, civil
and political, and cultural rights of indigenous peoples.
Doyle, who was here to represent an international network of civil
society organizations working for the elimination of all forms of
racial discrimination, said that their group have documented at
least 40 cases of violations of the UN protocols and that can be
considered as discriminatory of indigenous peoples in three round of
national consultations.
The consultations were initiated in
Luzon and Visayas on June 13 to 14, and
in
In the 40 cases documented nationwide, Doyle said that the bulk of
incidents of violations of the UN agreements on rights were related
to large-scale corporate mining projects in ancestral domain.
Lawyer Manja Bayang, coordinator of the Indigenous People’s Rights
Monitor, said that based on results of the consultation, the issue
on mining also left an impact on indigenous peoples rights to self-
determination as well as on controversial issues related to the
communities’ rights to free and prior informed consent.
Other issues that are discriminatory to indigenous peoples are
corporate plantation projects for industrial trees, bio-fuels, as
well as governmental policies related to declaration of ancestral
lands into environmentally protected areas and massive military
operations. The issue on conversion of rice and corn lands for bio-
fuels and other types commercial crops may yet spawn food crisis,
especially among the indigenous peoples, Bayang said.
The Philippine government, as a signatory to UNCERD, is required to
submit a report to the Committee at least once every four years but
has failed to do so since 1997. In 2007, the International Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has instructed the
government to submit a report on June 30 this year or the UN body
will move on with the review of the Philippine record based on other
information available in the committee.
Among all the UN treaty bodies, UNCERD is the most focused on the
government compliance of international rights agreements in relation
to indigenous peoples.
In 2007, two Subanen leaders filed a rights violations complaint
against the government before UNCERD in relation to mining projects
in
has asked international civil society groups to submit a parallel
report in relation to the governments record in the elimination of
racial discrimination.
Boyle said that civil society works on the premise that the category
of racial discrimination does not pertain to the biological aspect
of race but the existence of acts of racial discrimination in the
form of governmental policies that are discriminatory especially to
indigenous peoples.
Dulphing Ogan, chair of Kalumaran (Alliance of Indigenous Peoples
Organizations) Mindanao, said that the bulk of the cases that they
are submitting to UNCERD were already filed before the Commission on
Human Rights (CHR) while some of it were in the regular courts. Most
of these cases, particularly those submitted before the CHR, have
not been acted upon, he added.
In Mindanao, what will be included in the shadow report are cases of
displacement and aerial bombing of Mandaya and Mansaka communities
by the military in Bangaga, Davao Oriental; dislocation of Ata-
Manobo villages in Talaingod, Davao del Norte; alleged arbitrary
arrest of Ata-Manobo woman leader Bibyaon Bigkas, the killing of
Datu Dominador Diarog due to a reported land grabbing incident,
evacuations of Ata Matigsalug villagers due to military operations
in Compostela province.
Other incidents included in the report are alleged forced
recruitment of indigenous peoples into paramilitary forces across
the Southern Mindanao region, a planned construction of a
hydroelectric plant in Davao del Sur; and a case of dislocation due
to an Industrial Forest Management Agreement in Caraga,
Oriental.
The group has also included in its filing a reported evacuation in
Liangga town, Surigao del Sur; and a case of corporate mining
project-related discrimination of Subanen folk in Midsalip and
Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur.
Ogan said indigenous peoples consider the report an important arena
in their continuing struggle in calling for government
responsibility on the dislocation and other forms of violations of
indigenous peoples’ rights.
“The shadow report is not the end of our struggle but it will
strengthen and inspire us to further organize our ranks against the
discriminatory policies of the government,” Ogan said.
The incidents of rights violations were documented with Philippine-
based non-government organizations working with indigenous peoples
that include the Indigenous People’s Rights Monitor, Philippine
Indigenous People’s Links, Tebtebba, Philippine Indigenous People’s
Links, Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamayan ng Pilipinas, the Legal
Rights Resources Center, Anthrowatch and EED Task Force on IP
Rights. (Jowel F. Canuday / MindaNews)
