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EU to Help Philippines Probe Extra-Judicial Deaths

Douglas BakshianJune 14, 2007

At the request of the Manila government, a team of EU legal experts and human rights activists will arrive in the Philippines next week to offer technical assistance in identifying those behind a wave of extra-judicial killings in the country.

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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo -- 800 people have reportedly been killed since she came to power in 2001
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo -- 800 people have reportedly been killed since she came to power in 2001Image: AP

The six-member team of experts will start work on Monday and will meet with human rights groups and government agencies, as well as the police and military during its mission set to last ten days. The team includes Swedish, German, Finnish, and British officials.

The purpose of the visit is not to probe the deaths themselves. Instead the experts will find out ways in which the European Union can offer technical assistance in the establishment of special courts, in the training of judges and prosecutors, and in the strengthening of witness protection programmes.

The killings have already been internationally condemned by groups, including Amnesty International, and the United Nations. But the European Commission's ambassador to the Philippines, Alistair MacDonald, said this was not enough.

18 convictions only

"The point is that the killings have continued," MacDonald lamented. "The number of prosecutions, in particular those which have concluded with a conviction is relatively small -- 16."

President Gloria Arroyo first raised the possibility of the EU helping out when she visited Europe last year. Ambassador MacDonald said this made the EU effort different from other such initiatives:

"What is new is the fact that the government has requested assistance to help strengthen their capabilities to deal with this and we're aiming to provide this first of all by identifying exactly what the issues are. What the gaps are in terms of capability, skills and resources."

Over 800 dead

Philippine human rights groups say that more than 800 political activists, labour organisers, journalists and others have been killed since President Arroyo took office in 2001. Leftists groups blame military death squads.

But the Philippine government says the numbers are exaggerated and many of the victims are either communist rebels or their supporters being killed by internal purges. The military denies any direct role in the killings.

Denials and accusations aside, Rolf Saligman, the deputy head of the German embassy in Manila said that there were no quick fixes for dealing with the problem and the Philippines needed to enforce the law more.

Up to the Philippines

"It’s up to the Philippines and the Filipinos of course to solve this problem of these extra-legal killings;" said Saligman, adding that the EU wanted "to do as much as possible to help the Philippine government to be effective."

Meanwhile, the chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, Reynaldo Puno, announced that a government-created panel which had started a probe into the killings would re-open its investigation as the murders continue.