A network of 30 independent civil society organizations and representatives from government agencies and security forces will hold a run to affirm the state’s policy to prohibit torture and penalize perpetrators on June 25, 2016. The activity will take place in time for the worldwide observance of the International Day in Support for Victims of Torture.

The Balay Rehabilitation Center has asked the tough-talking president-apparent Rodrigo Duterte to be mindful of what he says following his proposal to impose death by hanging as a penalty to curtail the rampant criminality in the country.  The human rights group  also raised grave concern that the  ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy of the former Davao Mayor is a threat to the right to life and can open the flood gates for abuse by law enforcers and trigger the disregard for the rule of law. 

PROTECT THE IDPs, STRENGTHEN DURABLE SOLUTIONS

For many decades now, the communities in many parts of Mindanao have repeatedly experienced armed conflict and militarization resulting to their forced evacuation and displacement from their homelands. Thousands of indigenous peoples, pastoralists, and land tillers in other parts of the country have also been involuntarily separated from their farms and ancestral domain due to social violence and intrusion of exploitative big business and extractive industries. Moreover, the recurrence of extreme weather events and destructive geological and oceanic phenomenon aggravated by climate change have made many communities vulnerable to producing more “disaster IDPs” in the country.