BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Philippine women’s alliance GABRIELA has filed charges against Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for serious and systematic violation of women’s rights and his numerous crimes against the Filipino people at the International Peoples’ Tribunal (IPT) 2018 to be convened in Brussels, Belgium on September 18 to 19.
GABRIELA Secretary General Joms Salvador is testifying at the IPT 2018 on Duterte’s misogyny and discrimination against women as grave violations of the economic, social and cultural rights of women by a Head of State and on the Philippine government’s violations of its duties and obligations to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and to respect, protect and fulfill women’s human rights under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to which the Philippines is a state party, the Magna Carta of Women (Republic Act No. 9710), and the Women Development Code of Davao.
According to Salvador, “President Duterte’s public statements promote rather than discourage or prevent discrimination against women; they are offensive to women; they are tantamount to verbally abusing women; they harass women; they degrade women; they harm and endanger the lives of women.” “Misogyny thus is no longer seen as a simple case of one’s personal dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women. Rather it must be seen as a violation of particular laws that protect women – a crime that, like any other, must be punished,” Salvador added.
A total of 21 cases or incidents of the Philippine government’s gross and systematic violations of the people’s civil and political rights, violations of economic, social and cultural rights, and violations of the rights to national self-determination and development and violations of international humanitarian law will be brought before the IPT 2018 by civil society representatives, human rights defenders, trade unionists, indigenous people, and family members of victims of extrajudicial killings and of political prisoners.
The IPT2018 is a global peoples’ court convened by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, IBON International, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines.
The IPT 2018 as a global people’s court draws its legitimacy from the people as the primordial source of authority and power of all courts, both international and local. The IPT 2018 is composed of an international jury who are leading public figures of recognized achievements and high moral stature. They will come up with a verdict based on a thorough and fair assessment of evidences, and in line with applicable international legal standards.
The verdict of the IPT will be submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the European Parliament, and the United Nations Human Rights Council as a case against the US-Duterte regime.
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Reference:
Joms Salvador
Secretary General
GABRIELA Philippines
+63 918 918 2150
