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INBOX: TAKE ACTION NOW

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s special rapporteurs and
representatives, independent experts and working groups – collectively known
as the Special Procedures – are among the most innovative, flexible and
responsive tools created by the UN to promote and protect human rights. They
cover various human rights issues which are of great concern to FI and its
members, such as the rights to education, to food, to health, the rights of
migrants and of minorities, freedom of religion, the right to be free from
torture, human trafficking, violence against women to mention just a few
examples. Some mandates also exercise scrutiny over the human rights
situation in certain countries. They have helped thousands of individuals
whose rights were violated or threatened.

The United Nations Human Rights Council is currently discussing changes
To the Special Procedures through a review, which must be completed by June
2007.

Despite the clear need for the Human Rights Council to strengthen the
Special Procedures, several states are instead proposing changes that would
cripple the ability of Special Procedures to promote and protect human
rights effectively. Those states are disregarding the harm that such
measures would do to the men, women and children whose human rights are
violated every day in all parts of the world, and who look to the Special
Procedures to intervene on their behalf and defend their rights.

 

Many of us believe that it is crucial to show these States and the
international community as a whole our strong support to these Procedures.
We call on all concerned to take action for the protection of the UN Special
Procedures by signing the petition, which can be found at:
www.actforspecialprocedures.org or visit
http://www.amnesty.ca/specialprocedures/index.php?lg=en

 

***

Prayer of the day in time for Good Friday 2007:
Christ yesterday and today,

the beginning and the end,

Alpha and Omega.

All time belongs to him

and all the ages.

May the light of Christ, rising in glory,

dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.

 

LARGE SCALE MINING – AN ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

LARGE SCALE MINING – AN ACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

They come  – armed men, hooded, or in corporate suits; in broad day light, or in dark nights. They come with tractors, or with bribe money; or memoranda of agreements or contracts. They come with warrants of arrest for libel and all sorts of manufactured charges against the communities.

These are hired men by the foreign mining companies to shut the mouth of those who refuse to sell their lands, and their souls. They knock on people’s doors in the middle of the night; they knock down their doors and their walls in the middle of the day.  They uproot the fruit trees and the vegetables they grow for their food and livelihood; they uproot lives from the land they have cultivated their dreams. 

These are acts of violence. These acts, and these men who execute these acts, and those who allow these to happen – we condemn.

 In the face of all of these, they decided to stand up – they, the women in the mineral-rich communities; women who have no choice but to swallow their fear and dare to stand between the tractors and their homes; who get up on their feet even after being hit by the butt of the rifles; who turn their heads from the easy way of getting out of trouble by signing the agreements. They, the women who resist the peddled promise of better lives for their children, their families, understanding fully well that without their land, they will never be home, nor have peace in their hearts.  They, the women, who find time in their full schedule of housework, to come to meetings and protest actions knowing that this is very much their responsibility – to protect her family, her community. They who have remained in the shadow, for they have yet to be recognized as leaders and movers of their communities.

These women, we salute. These mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, defenders – we celebrate your courage, your passion and your strength.  We draw inspiration from you to continue walking down the challenging, while for some, deadly, path to change and justice.

The other women – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and Chair Janet C. Serrano of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) – they are powerful women who could make a positive difference with women’s lives. But they decided not.  They decided instead to enrich the foreign mining companies, at the expense of the rural and indigenous women.  These other women could have opted to perform their duty of respecting the ancestral domains of the indigenous communities. They decided instead to act as brokers for the mining companies.

The other women – ARROYO and SERRANO, we hold responsible – for the increasing impoverishment and hunger of the women and girls in the rural and indigenous communities.  We hold them responsible for the continuing violence committed by the mining companies, against women and men in the communities. These women, they have to pay now. We call on them to immediately –

Conduct an independent investigation on the human rights violations committed in mining-affected communities. 

Revoke the mining permits on lands which have no genuine free, prior and   informed consent from the women and men in the communities. 

It has been said, when a woman says NO!, it means NO.  And we echo the voices of the women from the mining affected communities who say NO! to mining companies on their lands. NO to the violence committed by the personnel of these mining companies! NO to the inaction of the authorities to bring the perpetrators of these violent acts to justice.  NO to the connivance of the NCIP with mining companies in undermining the processes of getting the Free and Prior Informed Consent of indigenous communities. NO to the Mining Act of 1995.

We are in solidarity with their struggle to uphold their rights as women to be heard without fear of persecution, and to live life in peace and dignity. 

From the women and men of

LEGAL RIGHTS and NATURAL RESOURCES CENTER-

KASAMA SA KALIKASAN (LRC-KSK/Friends of the Earth-Philippines)

March 20007

March 8

March 8 

 

            March 8 is as International Women’s Day (IWD).  It is an occasion marked by women’s group from all fronts all over the world.  This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as national holiday.   

            Here at home, it is celebrated as the National Women’s Day.  The observance of Women’s Day is generally low key.  The commemoration of various forms is eclipsed further by the fact that Hallmark Cards and commercialization in general has not officially adopted the date yet.  Thus March 8 rightly or wrongly has yet to be commodified.  For only then will it start getting fully noticed and only then will its significance get the attention it deserves. 

              Then again, we do not think women’s groups all over the world would feel comfortable in trivializing March 8 altogether.  After all, Women’s day has so much history behind it.  For some women, it goes far beyond wearing shirts in shade of purple and pockets of celebrating.  It is a day when women like me can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.     

            International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for “liberty, equality, fraternity” marched on
Versailles to demand women’s suffrage. 

            The first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the
United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (New York, 1911), where over 140 women lost their lives. The idea of having an international women’s day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions. Women from clothing and textile factories staged one such protest on 8 March 1857 in
New York City. The garment workers were protesting what they saw as very poor working conditions and low wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These women established their first labor union in the same month two years later. 

More protests followed on 8 March in subsequent years.  Over the years, IWD has been host to conferences galore, and alongside activity organized by the women’s movement, some government bodies sponsor of official IWD recept