Rapporteurs from United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) are fearing that the extension of martial law in Mindanao could lead to more human rights abuses of indigenous peoples.
“They are suffering massive abuses of their human rights, some of which are potentially irreversible,” Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, UNHRC special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples and internally displaced people said in a statement late Wednesday.
“We fear the situation could deteriorate further if the extension of martial law until the end of 2018 results in even greater militarization,” the statement read.
The rapporteurs mentioned that they had information on 2,500 Lumads being displaced since October, and military forces killing Lumad farmers in South Cotabato, though they did not give much detail.c
“We fear that some of these attacks are based on unfounded suspicions that Lumads are involved with militant groups or in view of their resistance to mining activities on their ancestral lands,” the two added.
However, it can be remembered that on early December, Karapatan, a local human rights group penned a letter to Corpuz discussing the alleged massacre of eight T’boli and Dulangan Manobo in Lake Sebu, South Cotabato, and the evacuations in Surigao del Sur, Sarangani, and Agusan del Sur.
(Read: Karapatan reports indigenous people harassment, killing to UN rapporteur)
“We are bringing to your urgent attention the recent spate of attacks against indigenous leaders and communities in the Philippines, as a result of the continuing counterinsugency operations of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Pres. [Rodrigo] Duterte’s martial law declaration,” Karapatan’s letter by Cristina Palabay, its Secretary General read.
When Palabay sent the letter, the martial law extension was still under debate then. Their organization has expressed their worry that its passage “is bound to impact on civilians, especially indigenous communities in Mindanao, who have experienced grave threats on their lives and security in the past year.”
Just a few days after, the Congress approved the President’s plea and the military and police’s recommendation for an extension until 2018.