Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)
As we observe the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on International Human Rights Day, we note with grave urgency the horrific human rights situation in Palestine and the alarming state of impunity in the Philippines. All over the world today, US imperialism has backed genocidal wars and military intervention that have resulted in massive human rights violations and human suffering.
We declare that it is US imperialism, with help from its junior partners and neo-colonies, which is the number one human rights violator in the world today. This is clearly seen in the US veto before the UN Security Council of a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and its support for continued genocide against Palestinians.
Under the second US-Marcos regime, the US has funded the so-called “counter-terror” operations of the AFP which has led to the designation of revolutionary groups and activists as terrorists, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, bombing of communities and the shrinking of civic space. The US-directed counter-insurgency operations in the Philippines is the main cause of human rights violations especially in the countryside among peasants and indigenous peoples.
There is a glimmer of hope for human rights in the Philippines with the reopening of peace talks between the GRP and the NDFP. The desire to resume peace negotiations should lead to the removal of terrorist designations, the release of political prisoners held on trumped up charges and the reaffirmation of the landmark Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and international Humanitarian Law.
In the end, it is the people who must struggle for the defense of their basic human rights and fight for their national and democratic aspirations. The struggle for human rights and a just and lasting peace is inextricably linked to the struggle to change the fundamentally rotten Philippine social system.
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