August, 2022

We are sharing with you the solidarity message of Mary Aileen Bacalso, President of the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances (ICAED), to the activity of Desaparecidos and Karapatan today, August 30, International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

Karapatan and Desaparecidos are members of the ICAED.

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“The case of Adora Faye de Vera is more than what the current Marcos administration paints it to be. It is a strong testament to the prevailing impunity that has seen resurgence with the installation of the dictator’s son into the presidency.

URGENT APPEAL FOR  ACTION ON THE ARREST OF ADORA FAYE DE VERA

August 31, 2022

Dear friends and colleagues,

Greetings of peace!

It has been a week since women’s rights activist Adora Faye de Vera, 66, a martial law survivor, former political prisoner and kin of a desaparecido, was arrested in Quezon City, Philippines.

In commemoration of the International Day of the Disappeared today, August 30, families and friends of victims of enforced disappearance under Desaparecidos (Families of the Disappeared for Justice) and advocates from the Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (CARMMA) and Karapatan gathered at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani to renew their call to surface the 1,900 desaparecidos, from the Marcos dictatorship to the Duterte administration. 

The UPR is a state-driven mechanism, which involves the review of the human rights records of all UN Member States under the auspices of the Human Rights Council. It serves as a venue for each State to declare what actions they have taken to fulfill their human rights obligations.

Karapatan denounced the increasing use of Republic Act No. 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act in the political persecution of humanitarian workers and human rights defenders in the Philippines, as the human rights group expressed support for individuals from the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines - Northern Mindanao who were recently charged under the said law.

Justice remains elusive for peace advocate Randall “Ka Randy” Echanis and human rights worker Zara Alvarez two years after their murders, human rights alliance Karapatan said on Wednesday, as the group renewed its calls for accountability and for an end to the red-tagging of human rights defenders and advocates, which the group asserted was “tantamount to a death sentence.”

Martial law victims under the Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (SELDA) strongly oppose the move to rename Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte to Ferdinand E. Marcos State University through proposed House Bill 2407.

“The red-tagging and halting of the distribution of the five books of renowned Filipino writers Malou Jacob, Rommel Rodriguez, Dexter Cayanes, Don Pagusara and Reuel Aguila which were published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino are shameless and idiotic acts,” said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay, as she scored another attack on academic freedom and censorship of scholarly work.