Page 6 - aruba-today-20221212

A6 WORLD NEWS
Monday 12 deceMber 2022
Philippines protesters decry alleged injustices under Marcos

MANILA, Philippines (AP) expression and association.
— Hundreds of people The U.N. Human Rights
marched in the Philippine Council has urged the Mar-
capital on Saturday pro- cos administration to ad-
testing what they said was dress the killings and other
a rising number of extrajudi- rights abuses.
cial killings and other injus- The government has said it
tices under the administra- is committed to protecting
tion of President Ferdinand human rights, citing reforms
Marcos Jr. in the country's judicial sys-
The protesters, led by a tem.
Philippines-based rights Justice Secretary Je-
group, gathered at a pub- sus Crispin Remulla, in a
lic square in Manila before speech last month in Ge-
marching toward the presi- neva before the Human
dential palace to demand Rights Council, dismissed
justice for victims. Police allegations that there is a
estimated around 800 pro- culture of impunity in the
testers took part in the rally, Philippines. He said the
which coincided with Inter- government will not toler-
national Human Rights Day. ate the denial of justice or
Cristina Palabay of the the violation of rights.
rights group Karapatan said Also coinciding with In-
under the Marcos adminis- A protester kicks an effigy of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during a rally as they ternational Human Rights
tration's counterinsurgency commemorate International Human Rights Day, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022, in Manila, Philippines. Day, journalist Maria Ressa,
Associated Press
campaign, the group has one of the winners of the
documented at least 17 Signs and pictures of those 2021 Nobel Peace Prize,
cases of extrajudicial killings in Manila killed, including journalist war on drugs mated $5 billion to $10 bil- launched in Manila her
in addition to four other in- and other Brent Renaud, are displayed on is under inves- lion while he was in power. memoir "How to Stand Up
cidents of violence where parts of a fence during a protest against tigation by the "We come together as fam- to a Dictator: The Fight for
victims survived. the coun- International ilies of victims from different Our Future."
The number of political pris- try includ- Russia's invasion of Ukraine Criminal Court regimes and presidents ... "It is a time when we are
oners continues to rise, with ed fami-in Lafayette Park near the after leav- We have made it a point seeing our rights eroded
828 detained as of Nov. 30, lies of ac-White House, Sunday, March ing thousands that every International Hu- globally, where you are
Palabay said, noting that tivists who 13, 2022, in Washington. dead. man Rights Day we call for seeing a shift away from
at least 25 of them were d i s a p - Associated Press The dictator justice, and commit to not democracy to ... fascism
arrested after Marcos took p e a r e d was ousted allow the same violations and it's time for us to hold
office in June. or were in an army- to happen to others," said the line so this is what we
"Despite these sordid figures t o r t u r e d backed "Peo- Evangeline Hernandez, did today," she told The As-
there has been zero justice during the administra- ple Power" revolt in 1986 chairperson of a human sociated Press.
for the victims of extrajudi- tion of Marcos' father and and died three years later rights victims group. The co-founder of local
cial killings," Palabay said in namesake, ousted dicta- in exile in the U.S. without Karapatan said the current news website Rappler
a statement. "The culture of tor Ferdinand Marcos, as admitting any wrongdoing, administration is also in- faces a string of criminal
impunity continues to rear well as human rights victims including accusations that creasing the use of anti-ter- charges filed by Duterte's
its ugly head." under former President Ro- he, his family and other as- ror laws to suppress dissent administration and his al-
Organizers said protesters drigo Duterte, whose brutal sociates amassed an esti- and curtailing freedom of lies that are related to

67 journalists, media workers killed on

the job this year

staff have been killed "The failure to act will only other nationalities such as
around the world so far this embolden those who seek American documentary
year, up from 47 last year. to suppress the free flow of filmmaker Brent Renaud.
The Brussels-based group information and undermine Many deaths occurred in
also tallied 375 journalists the ability of people to hold the first chaotic weeks of
currently imprisoned for their leaders to account, the war, though threats to
their work, with the highest including in ensuring that journalists continue as the
figures in China including those with power and influ- fighting drags on.
Hong Kong, in Myanmar ence do not stand in the The IFJ said "the rule by ter-
Signs and pictures of those killed, including journalist Brent and in Turkey. Last year's way of open and inclusive ror of criminal organizations
Renaud, are displayed on a fence during a protest against report listed 365 journalists societies," IFJ General Sec- in Mexico, and the break-
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Lafayette Park near the White behind bars. retary Anthony Bellanger down of law and order in
House, Sunday, March 13, 2022, in Washington. With the number of media said in a statement. Haiti, have also contribut-
Associated Press workers killed on the rise, More media workers were ed to the surge in killings."
BRUSSELS (AP) — Russia's ists killed doing their work in the IFJ and other media killed covering the war in 2022 has been one of the
war in Ukraine, chaos in 2022, according to a new rights groups have called Ukraine — 12 in total — deadliest ever for journal-
Haiti and rising violence by report released Friday. on governments to take than in any other country ists in Mexico, which is now
criminal groups in Mexico The International Federa- more concrete action to this year, according to the considered the most dan-
contributed to a sharp spike tion of Journalists says that protect journalists and free IFJ. Most were Ukrainian gerous country for reporters
in the number of journal- 67 journalists and media journalism. but also included those of outside a war zone.q