uphold, assert and defend all human rights for all!
uphold, assert and defend all human rights for all!
All the members of the movement rememberML@40 are grateful to the National Historical Commission (NHC) and to the people who worked for this recognition of just protests and determined struggles against the trampling of dignity and the ensuing gross violations of human rights during the dark years of martial law.
By this act may we also mark every single place where protest and struggle took place, where ever it may be – in Schools, Factories, Farms, Forests, in Streets and Mountains,
Asserting and demanding for the
rights to “food and freedom, jobs and justice”.
HIS EXCELLENCY BENIGNO SIMEON AQUINO, III.
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
Manila
September 20, 2012
Your Excellency,
September 21, 2012, the 40th year since the imposition of Martial Law by then President Ferdinand Marcos offers a kairos, a moment of grace and opportunity, to you and your administration. It is a momentous chance to show to the country and to the world that the matuwid na daan breaks through impunity and leads to justice.
All the undersigned request Your Excellency to give an explicit public support for the soonest passage of the proposed bill providing compensation to victims of human rights violations (HRVs) during the Marcos administration under Martial Law. A follow-up to your State of the Nation Address (SONA) on this matter would signal unequivocal determination in seeking justice.
As the nation joins the international community in celebrating the UN declared International Day of Peace on September 21, we are hopeful that soon there will be more cause for celebration. We are confident that a negotiated political settlement between the GPH and the MILF is close by. This Peace Month of 2012 would be an extraordinary month and will be a defining moment in our decades-long peace journey.
We also commemorate and recognize that September 21 connotes a dark chapter in our country’s history- the declaration of Martial Law. Therefore our Peace Day celebration also highlights an assertion that peace requires that Never Again should we allow the loss of our fundamental rights and freedoms. It is a fitting moment, especially on this 40th anniversary of the Martial rule imposition to remember and honor the martyrs and heroes of that era who struggled against the Marcos dictatorship and eventually ousted the regime.
We, the undersigned national, regional and international human rights organizations express our strongest protest against the Malaysian government’s ongoing harassment of Malaysia’s leading human rights organization, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) through investigations, public vilification and threats to charge the NGO for alleged financial irregularities, non-registration as a society, and receipt of foreign funds.
Since early July 2012, SUARAM has been a target of harassment by the government, which included visits by the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) to the office of SUARAM to serve notices to the organization to produce information and documents to the CCM, and the seizure of documents from SUARAM’s Company Secretary and auditors. Several of SUARAM’s board and staff members have been summoned to the Commission for investigations. On 8 September 2012, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that the CCM had identified five charges under the Companies Act 1965 that could be made against Suara Inisiatif Sdn Bhd, the legal entity of SUARAM. The Malaysian government has also announced that investigations will be undertaken by several other government agencies, including the Registrar of Societies that has publicly noted that SUARAM is not legally registered as a society. On 12 September 2012, a meeting was held between the CCM, the police, the central bank (Bank Negara), the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, the Registrar of Societies and the Home Ministry, to determine the jurisdiction and actions to be taken by the respective government agencies against SUARAM.
We, the undersigned organizations, who participated at the Civil Society Forum on ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, held on 10-11 September 2012 and the consultation meeting of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) with civil society organizations on the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), held on 12 September 2012 in Manila, the Philippines, comment the AICHR for holding the second consultation meeting and welcome the openness shown by the AICHR representatives in the meeting.
We regret that the participation of civil society organizations in this meeting was still limited and some organizations continued to be barred from participating in the meeting.
