Hong Kong, June 27-29, 2019
Conference Declaration
Stand United
in solidarity with the Filipino People for
Justice Freedom and Democracy
The Duterte Presidency at the start of its third year is a tyrannical dictatorship provoking widespread anger, disgust and revulsion at the combination of tens of thousands of dead Filipinos arbitrarily murdered by police and hired guns in the phoney ‘war on drugs’, the hundreds of people’s leaders and defenders shot down by the military death squads, the ruthless suppression of the Lumad schools and the communities which built them, the vicious and hateful attacks on the dignity of women, the deadly vilification and smearing against legitimate people’s organizations, the neoliberal economic measures which impoverish the people even more, the massive displacement of people and destruction of Marawi City, and the Martial Law which is spreading to the whole country. And all this wrapped in abusive and misogynist language, blatant broken promises and praise of fascism and the dictator Marcos.
Duterte’s broken promises on releasing political prisoners and on proceeding with the peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines can only result in greater violence and repression.
This Duterte presidency is trying to crush the individual and collective human rights and people’s rights enshrined in the Constitution and international covenants to which the Philippines is a signatory.
This 3rd General Assembly of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines is full of admiration for and inspired by the huge numbers of Filipinos who defy this vile regime by continuing to assert their rights and freedoms and by protesting the great abuses taking place, by continuing to fight for genuine land reform, for national industrialisation, and for peace, for workers’ rights to a living wage and secure jobs, and for democratic rights across society.
The Duterte Regime is a scandal to the international community. Iceland has condemned this regime. But not enough governments have raised their voices to support the Filipino people and to call Duterte to account. This in itself is a scandal and demonstrates a threat to the individual and collective rights of people everywhere. A major reason for this failure in the international community is the US Trump administration’s use of Duterte in its competition with China, and the US support for the suppression of the national democratic people’s movement. The Trump administration and other governments, particularly Australia, Canada and Israel, directly arm and train the military and police of this murderous regime.
Following the May 2019 national elections, marked by blatant cheating, President Duterte is poised to change the Constitution to extend his rule and allow even greater imperialist plunder of the nation’s people and resources. This is a prospect for far sharper social conflict and nation-wide martial law, in which people’s rights will be threatened even more.
Faced with this prospect, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines is expanding its organisation and campaign capacity to provide strong and visible solidarity to the Filipino people in their struggle against this tyranny. ICHRP will greatly expand its public education campaigns to rouse international public opinion to demand action, and at the same time undertake an exhaustive campaign to the diplomatic community to hasten the international isolation of this dangerous dictatorship. ICHRP will focus on ever more pressure for the indictment of President Duterte in the International Criminal Court, building on the work of the International People’s Tribunal of September 2018.
In making this commitment to the Filipino people, ICHRP calls on all social organisations which uphold democratic values and human rights to respond to our calls and to join our Coalition so that the Filipino people can win the Justice, Freedom, Democracy and Peace for which they have been fighting for so long.
Let us STAND UNITED in this cause!
