• Philippines: Arrest Ex-General Accused of ‘Disappearances’
    Press release
    Jan 31, 2012

    Philippine President Benigno Aquino III should order the armed forces to cooperate with civilian authorities in arresting retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan and others charged with the enforced disappearance of two activists in 2006.

  • We Told the Children Not to Enter
    Commentary
    Jan 31, 2012

    The Philippine government is engaged in a long-running armed conflict with the insurgent New People’s Army (NPA), the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. While the NPA maintains a presence in the mountains of northern Luzon, there has only been limited military action in the Cordillera region since the 1990s. Despite the low levels of conflict, the military continues to place troops and guns in local communities. And in some cases these troops and their guns establish a home on school grounds.

  • Philippines: Efforts to Improve Rights Fall Far Short
    Press release
    Jan 23, 2012
    The Philippine government should disable abusive paramilitary forces and take concrete steps to hold those responsible for killings and other rights violations to account.
  • The Philippines: Universal Periodic Review Submission
    Written statement
    Dec 28, 2011

    Philippine President Benigno Aquino, III maintains that his administration is “working overtime” to prevent new human rights violations and to resolve previous cases, and has asked for patience. Yet despite promises of reform, his administration has made little progress in addressing impunity for serious human rights violations.  Extrajudicial killings of leftist activists and petty criminals continue, with the government failing to address involvement by the security forces and local officials.

  • PH turns a blind eye to rights abuses abroad
    Commentary
    Dec 8, 2011
    There were high hopes when the Philippines rejoined the 47-member Human Rights Council in June that President Aquino would make human rights a centerpiece of his foreign policy. But so far, the Philippines has fallen well short of expectations.
  • Philippines: Soldiers on the School Grounds
    Press release
    Nov 30, 2011
    During a recent eight-day investigation in the Cordillera Autonomous Region on northern Luzon island, Human Rights Watch found five cases in which the military, in violation of Philippine and international law, had used parts of functioning schools as barracks or bases for military detachments since 2009. This military use of schools lasted for periods ranging from three months to more than a year.
  • Disarming schools: strategies for ending the military use of schools during armed conflict
    Journal Article
    Oct 31, 2011
    The past two decades have seen increased awareness, attention and action in response to the plight of children affected by armed conflict. However, one issue that has not received much attention, despite the regularity with which it occurs, is the phenomenon of military forces and other armed groups using school buildings. Of particular concern is when armed groups occupy and convert schools into military bases on a medium- or long-term basis.
  • Philippines: Army Falsely Tags Children as Rebels
    Press release
    Oct 11, 2011
    The Philippine army has fabricated stories that children taken into custody are rebel “child warriors.”
  • Philippines: Communist Rebels Target Civilians
    Press release
    Oct 4, 2011
    The rebel New People’s Army (NPA) in the Philippines should immediately end unlawful killings and detention of civilians.
  • Philippines: Homicide Trial of 8 Soldiers Nears End
    Press release
    Sep 13, 2011

    The final two defense witnesses are scheduled to testify this week in Tagum City in the first trial in the Philippines in a decade in which soldiers have been charged with homicide in an armed conflict situation.