Statement Against Worsening Human Rights Situation in Philippines Under President Duterte 新婦女協進會：關注杜特爾特政權下菲律賓惡化的人權狀況之聲明

For several decades, Hong Kong has been the host city to hundreds of thousands of Philippine migrant workers. Most of them are women, and their wages are low, working hours long, and protections few. It is not entirely a free choice to leave behind their families to work in precarious conditions Hong Kong. In their own country, they face not only high unemployment and low wages but attacks by military and police when they peacefully demand rights as workers and citizens.

As feminists we protest against such poor and unfree conditions of labour and life for women in Hong Kong, and also express our solidarity for those fighting in the Philippines for decent living and working conditions, so that no one is forced to leave home and country for work and survival. We join with the human rights defenders in the Philippines to condemn the words and actions of President Duterte which have been increasingly attacking labour and even those who defend the health and human rights of their fellow citizens

On March 21, we co-signed a statement of Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) denouncing the fake terrorists list of more than 600 human rights defenders and critics of the Duterte regime, and the apparent move of President Duterte towards imposing martial law on the whole Philippines (click here for co-signed statement).  

We express our concern and solidarity also for Rachel Mariano, an Indigenous People human rights defender and mother of three, who is a health educator of CHESTCORE (Community Health Education, Services  and Training in the Cordillera Region), and 4 others like her who had been accused together.[1] They have been unjustly charged with trumped up cases of attempted murders by gun firings, exactly while they were doing the legal and legitimate work of their organizations – helping the social service-deprived community cope with its health care needs.

Under the Duterte regime, these health workers have been attacked as well as, more notoriously, large numbers of urban poor, in the name of wiping out drug dealers and drug users. One of those was Kian Loyd delos Santos, 17-year old son of an overseas Filipino domestic worker in Saudi Arabia when she got the painful news of his death on August 16, 2017. [2] It is a double pain and burden upon the Philippine migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong, to be away from their families and suffer the knowledge that their family members’ lives could be taken anytime, under the indiscriminate killing campaigns of the Duterte regime.

It is the obligation of the government to provide health services to all, to heal rather than kill, and to provide decent work – all while heeding the legitimate and peaceful demands of their own citizens.

Yet under President Duterte, the Philippines government has killed thousands of its own citizens in the name of the drug war, and withdrawn from the International Criminal Court, to avoid accountability for its gross violation of human rights and international law. And with the recent Department of Justice “list of terrorists” it has moved an even bigger step away from democracy and rule of law, and towards dictatorship, militarism and martial law.

On April 12, President Duterte has planned to visit Hong Kong. We urge Hong Kong fellow citizens to join in expressing sorrow and outrage towards him as the responsible party for so many deaths and death threats in the Philippines.

As feminists we condemn militarization, dehumanization of war, and any government that uses the language of war to make enemies of its citizens, and pursue a vision of society where all women and men can participate democratically in the rules under which they live, and enjoy the benefits of the wealth created by their society. We hope that no women nor men are forced to mourn family members killed by their own government, be attacked for striving for a just society, or be forced to move and work in other cities or countries to survive.

[1] Five women defenders of human rights in the Philippines, after facing false accusations in 2017, have posted bail on February 9, 2018, in Galimuyod, Ilocos Sur. Aside from being subjected to continuous harassment and surveillance for their involvement with human rights and environmental causes in the Cordillera, Sarah Abellon-Alikes, Rachel Mariano, Joanne Villanueva, and Sherry Mae Soledad were falsely charged with homicide and frustrated homicide by the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/women-human-rights-defenders-demand-stop-duterte-reign-terror

[2] On August 16, 2017, at 8:30 in the evening, Kian Loyd delos Santos, 17-year old son of an overseas Filipino worker, was killed in an anti-drug operation in Caloocan City in the Philippines. Operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) claimed that Kian fired back at them and that they had no choice but to shoot him. CCTV footage, however, showed that Kian did not fight back. To know more about the incident, please see: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGDpZSoqtyUKftkuKD6wkZk_ZMWX0u8j6xFO6bcsfzegTgKg/viewform; http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/28/17/if-kian-had-drug-money-he-could-have-gotten-himself-a-bike

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過去幾十年，香港一直是幾十萬名菲律賓移民工人的居住地。這些移民工大多數是女性，面對着低工資、長工時、欠缺保護的困境。離開家人、到香港不穩定的環境中工作並不完全是她們的自主選擇，皆因她們在菲律賓不僅面臨著高失業率和低工資，當她們和平地爭取工人和公民應有的權利時，她們將會面臨著軍人和警察的攻擊。

我們是一群女性主義者，我們抗議婦女要承受惡劣的和不自由的勞動條件；我們同時聲援那些在菲律賓爭取體面的生活和工作條件的女性人權捍衛者—無人應該再因爲生活籌謀而被逼離開家鄉工作！我們與菲律賓的人權捍衛者站在同一陣綫，齊聲譴責杜特爾特攻擊勞工的言論和行動！

3月21日，我們聯署了一份Hong Kong Campaign for the Advancement of Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines發起的聲明：譴責杜特爾特製造一份包括600多名人權捍衛者以及政權批評者的虚假的“恐怖分子名單”；明顯不過的是，這是杜特爾特試圖在整個菲律賓實施戒嚴法的舉動(按此看聯署聲明)！

我們還想對Rachel Mariano—原住民人權捍衛者、三個孩子的母親—表達最真摯的關心和聲援！Rachel Mariano是CHESTCORE（指菲律賓科迪勒拉地區的社區健康教育、服務和培訓計劃）的健康教育者，另外還有四名像她一樣同時被政府指控的人權捍衛者。他們被不公正地指控在一宗槍殺案件中謀殺未遂，但事實是，當時他們其實正在執行其組織合法的工作—爲社會服務貧瘠的社區的人民提供保健服務，滿足他們不被政府回應的保健需求。

在杜特爾特暴政之下，這些保健工作者遭到襲擊！更可怖的是，大批居於城市的貧民被政權以「打擊毒販和吸毒者」之名襲擊。其中之一是Kian Loyd delos Santos，一名在沙特阿拉伯工作的菲律賓家庭傭工的兒子，當她母親在2017年8月16日得知其兒子令人心碎的噩耗時，她正在外地打工，不在兒子身邊！由此可見，菲籍移民家務工在香港遭受雙重痛苦和負擔：他們遠離家人，並無時無刻擔心家鄉的家人有可能死於杜特爾特濫殺的槍劍下。

政府有義務為所有人提供衛生服務，他們應該要做的是提供治療而不是殺戮，以回應公民合法且和平的（保健）需求。

可惜，在杜特爾特的領導下，菲律賓政府以“鐵腕掃毒”為名殺害數千名公民，並從國際刑事法院撤出，以逃避其嚴重侵犯人權和國際法行為的責任。加上最近司法部公布所謂“恐怖分子名單”，足以反映杜特爾特領導下的政府離民主、法治越來越遠；逆潮流邁向專政、軍國主義和戒嚴！

4月12日，杜特爾特總統計劃訪問香港。我們敦促香港人和我們站在一起，向菲律賓杜特爾特表達憤慨，強烈要求他應該對菲律賓眾多亡魂和曾發出死亡威脅的行爲負責！

我們是一群女性主義者，我們譴責軍事化、戰爭的非人性化，以及政府使用戰爭語言，將其公民變成敵人；我們熱切追求的願景是所有人都能民主地參與規劃其生活環境，以及可以安心享受社會創造的資源。我們盼望，再沒有人要爲死於政權刀下的家屬而哀悼、沒有人再因爲爭取公義而遭到攻擊、或爲了生計而被迫遷移到其他城市或國家打工。