Karapatan dares Cayetano to file diplomatic protest vs US for alleged activist torture

The Karapatan Secretary-General also hit the US State Department saying that it is “like a pot calling a kettle black.” (Photo: KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights/Facebook)

A human rights group challenged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to file a diplomatic protest against the administration led by United States (US) President Donald J. Trump over the alleged torture of a human rights activist.

“We challenge him (Cayetano) to file a diplomatic protest against the Trump administration for the cruel and inhuman acts of the US Department of Homeland Security and US Customs and Border Protection against Filipino Moro human rights activist Jerome Succor Aba,” Karapatan Secretary-General Cristina Palabay said in a statement released on April 22, Sunday.

Aba is the 25-year-old co-chairman of Sandugo, a movement made up of Moro and indigenous peoples who wish to defend their land, identity, and the right to self-determination in pursuit of national liberation. He was invited to speak for human rights and church institutions in the US, but the US barred him from entering the country after being accused of being a “terrorist,” “communist,” “terrorist communist,” or “communist terrorist.”

“Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano harps on national sovereignty whenever international actors criticize the Philippine government on its human rights record. If Cayetano meant an ounce of truth in his pronouncements that the country should fully exercise its rights as a sovereign nation, he should uphold the rights of a Filipino citizen who suffered Guantanamo-style torture, among other violations, under the US government,” Palabay added.

The harsh interrogation practices by the US authorities in the Guantamono Bay are referred to as the Guantamono-style of torture. Furthermore, Karapatan said that Aba underwent psychological and physical torture for 28 hours and was not given food and water.

The US State Department released the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 which documented the status of human rights and worker rights in nearly 200 countries and territories, and also included the Philippines. Cayetano earlier slammed the US for this report after its discussion of the alleged extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.

(Read: Cayetano defends drug war, hits US report on human rights)

The Karapatan Secretary-General also hit the US State Department saying that it is “like a pot calling a kettle black.”

“It neglects to mention that like the Philippines, its human rights record is among the worst, if not the worst in the world, with its crimes against its own citizens and immigrants in the US, and in the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia,” Palabay said.

She added that it failed to mention that it funded the said Philippine drug war and counterinsurgency program and supported the martial law in Mindanao which “resulted to an avalanche of human rights violations.”

“The US is the number one hypocrite when it comes to human rights. It carries the banner of democracy, human rights and sovereignty only as justification to their war crimes. At least we know where the likes of Cayetano and Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque got their penchant and expertise on double talk,” she further said.

Palabay Aba’s case indicates the “despicable acts by the US authorities against a Filipino, who should be accorded internationally recognized civil and political rights, even in foreign soil.”