Rights groups hit gov’t hypocrisy in hosting international humanitarian law confab
By Danielle Deloria
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Progressive groups from the human rights and agricultural sectors criticized the Philippine government for hosting the 2025 Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the largest regional conference held from August 11 to 14 at the New World Makati Hotel.
The groups said that the Philippines’ so-called legacy and consistent championing of IHL does not reflect the lived experiences and records of its people, particularly under the administration of Marcos Jr.
Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PANAP) said that the Philippines ranked second behind Mexico. The latter recorded five killings with 18 victims. In 2024, the Panap reported six land conflict-related killings in the Philippines, leaving nine victims.
Aside from the killings, Panap also recorded 10 incidents of arrests, detentions, and legal persecution connected to land disputes in the Philippines last year, affecting 41 people. There were also nine cases of threats, harassment, and physical assaults that affected 11 individuals.
“These alarming numbers cast doubt on the Philippine government’s claimed commitment to human rights and international humanitarian law,” said Panap deputy executive director Arnold Padilla.
He added that the Marcos Jr. administration seeks to present the Philippines as a regional champion of human rights by hosting the IHL regional conference. “However, the increasingly repressive political environment experienced by Filipino farmers, farm workers, indigenous peoples, and other rural sectors, and their advocates, tells a very different story,”
Padilla cited the killing of 50-year-old Maranao farmer and former political prisoner Juan Sumilhig on Aug. 1. He was reportedly killed by soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Battalion in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. On Aug. 2 and 3, the Army’s 16th Infantry Battalion carried out strafing, shelling, and two aerial bombings in a rural village in Tagkawayan, Quezon province. These incidents followed a series of ongoing military operations in the area involving similar attacks.
“We recognize that a civil war is ongoing in the Philippines between the government and revolutionary groups in rural areas. But IHL clearly prohibits bombings, indiscriminate gunfire, and the killing of unarmed civilians, all of which the Philippine military appears to be violating,” Padilla said. “Moreover, the relentless red-tagging of farmers and activists asserting their right to land blurs the line between civilians and combatants in the government’s counterinsurgency efforts, and is used to justify such attacks.”
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Tanggol Magsasaka reported that the number of civilian victims of aerial bombings by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) rose from 2,354 in 2022 to 20,391 in 2023.
They said that there were 67 victims of “fake encounters.” Most of the victims were ordinary farmers deliberately targeted by the military, falsely labeled as terrorists, or indiscriminately killed in counterinsurgency operations. To escape accountability, the military often portrayed these slain civilians as armed rebels, according to KMP and Tanggol Magsasaka.
‘Real champion of IHL’
In a press release, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) said that the real champions of IHL are the peasants, indigenous communities, workers, women, human rights defenders, and lawyers who have continued their struggle despite the relentless state violence.
Even in the Philippine courts’ lack of response and persistent efforts to silence activists, human rights groups in the Philippines remain steadfast in seeking justice for civilians killed by state forces, the group said.
August 12 is recognized as International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Day. IHL applies to both international and non-international armed conflicts, with the aim of reducing casualties through two major approaches: protecting civilians at all costs and restricting the means and methods of warfare.
This international law is legally binding, as the Philippine government is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, a set of IHL treaties that establish legal standards and humanitarian treatment in times of war.
The regional IHL conference was convened by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), with support from the Inter-Agency Committee on International Humanitarian Law (IAC-IHL), and co-convened by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that they will be hosting the conference and boasted the Philippines’ “legacy and consistent” role in championing International Humanitarian Law and upholding its principles and application worldwide. (AMU, DAA)
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