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By Katrice R. Jalbuena Reporter
The Philippines and the European
Union (EU) hope to start programs addressing human rights issues and
stop extrajudicial killings in the country by September or October
this year, officials said.
Philippine and EU officials
announced last week that they have reached a basic agreement on a
technical cooperation package, called the EU Justice Assistance
Mission. Meetings are underway to put several programs into place.
The assistance package was
prompted by a report that the justice delivery system of the
Philippines lacks resources and cannot deal quickly with the problem
of extrajudicial killings, according to a report written by the EU
Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) that initiated a study of the
country’s legal system.
The mission refers to a group of
independent experts contracted by the EU to identify means with
which it could best provide technical support in conducting
investigations of extrajudicial killings.
The package, to be implemented
later this year, will focus on providing support, advice, technical
assistance and training in areas such as the criminal justice
system, including the judiciary, prosecution and police.
The government and civil society
should continue their dialogue if killings were to stop, according
to the Needs Assessment Mission report.
The findings stated that
extra-judicial killings are a Philippine problem requiring a local
solution, and the government must be ready to provide the resources
to match the political will it has already expressed.
The report noted that civil
society groups have questioned the usefulness of EU technical
assistance as this might be used to perpetuate human rights
violations. The groups cited, in particular, that better
investigation techniques could be used to incriminate or exculpate
people, depending on the interests of the government.
They were of the opinion that the
political will of the government to resolve political killings is
needed before any form of technical assistance to the government
could have the desired positive impact.
The mission studied the
operations of official human rights bodies, such as the Commission
on Human Rights, Presidential Human Rights Committee, Office of the
Presidential Advisor on the Peace Process and the Ombudsman, as well
as civil society groups involved in human rights work.
The report found that the
judicial and prosecution systems are under-resourced, particularly
the 99 Special Courts established to expedite trials of cases of
extrajudicial killings.
Specific problems that these
courts encountered included the lengthy nature of the trial process;
obstacles to a close coordination between the prosecution and the
police in filing cases; and “a reduced sensibility” to human
rights aspects among the members of the judiciary.
The agreement will also entail
the conduct of human rights awareness trainings for the police and
military, noting that the Armed Forces of the Philippines is the
only institution consistently implicated in many extrajudicial
killings.
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