UATC Support
Statement on
Amnesty
International’s Global Campaign Against Torture
13 May
2014
Empowering
the Torture Victims is a key in Fighting Impunity
Torture is
an affront to human life and dignity that cannot be justified under any
circumstances in any parts of the world.
The United Against Torture Coalition –
Philippines (UATC) restates its commitments to fight against torture and end
impunity by upholding the basic human rights and dignity of every individual as
it joins the Amnesty International in the launching of the Global Campaign
Against Torture.
The global campaign, which will be
carried out through holding of series of public events, is aimed to remind all
States including the Philippine government of their obligations to respect and guarantee
the right of every person to be free from torture and ill-treatment, to
effectively bring those responsible to justice, and to guarantee reparative
measures to victims and their families.
The UATC- Philippines laments that the
practice of torture continue to occur in a widespread and systematic manner everywhere
in the world. The Philippines is no exemption. Despite the enactment a domestic
law criminalizing torture in 2009 which is purportedly aimed at ending impunity
and giving meaning to the Convention Against Torture to which the Philippines
is state party since June 1986, torture is continuously being committed by
government authorities or agents of the state particularly the police and the
military usually to punish, to obtain information or a confession, to take
revenge on a person or persons, and to sow terror and fear not only to victims
but also to their families and the larger society.
The clear rift between policies and
practices of torture in the Philippines is once again conspicuously displayed
in the recent news about existence of the “wheel of torture” at the Philippine
National Police (PNP) satellite detention facility in Biñan, Laguna.
It reveals not only that torture is
still prevalent, but it is being committed with total impunity. The Philippine
Justice system seems to be unmoved by these legal and institutional reforms as
no perpetrators until now are held to account.
Take for example the documented torture
cases of Lenin Salas, Ronnel Victor R. Cabais and Abdul-Khan Ajid which are
faced with a number of legal impediments such as the slow and ineffective police
investigations, difficulty in positively identifying the perpetrators, inaccessibility
of prompt, thorough, impartial and independent medical care and evaluation and
the risk of reprisals against victims and witnesses.
While it is imperative for the
Philippine government to address the existing legal gaps and limitations in the
implementation of the law in order to ensure accountability, it also needs to
focus its attentions and efforts on the prevention of torture and the rehabilitation
of torture victims.
One way to ensure its prevention is
to guarantee and strictly observed the rights of any person under arrest or
placed under custody particularly the right to medical examination within 48
hours and in every level of the chain of custody.
Torture victims should also be
accorded with immediate medical and psychological care through high quality,
accessible and appropriate rehabilitation program regardless of the prosecution
and conviction of the torture cases. Though, the Philippine government has just
approved a Comprehensive Rehabilitation Programs for Torture Victims which was
crafted by inter-agencies headed by the Commission of Human Rights (CHR), it is
still very unclear how torture victims can access the available government services
and if it has the necessary budget lines to ensure the provisions of
rehabilitation program to torture victims.
The Philippine government must therefore look at rehabilitation as the
means to empower the torture victims in order for them to resume a full life as
possible and to restore their situation in all likeliness that it would have
existed if torture had not been committed.
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The UATC- Philippines is composed of
more than thirty (30) human rights organizations led by Amnesty
International-Philippines, Balay Rehabilitation Center, Families of Victims of
Involuntary Disappearance (FIND), Medical Action Group (MAG), and Task Force
Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP).
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