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| Photo courtesy of PNA |
Manila - United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, where members of the indigenous peoples’ community, together with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), appeared, to give an update about the atrocities committed by the Communist Party of the
Philippines-New Peoples' Army (CPP-NPA) in the country.
According to a report by
the PTV, The presentation was made during a
side event of the 42nd session of the UNHRC where UN officials and member state
representatives were present.
Indigenous Peoples (IP)
leaders asked for help from the international body to support their cause
against the communist armed movement in the Philippines, which they blamed for
the killings and grabbing of their ancestral domains.
"We
need your help because, for the past 50 years, the CPP-NPA has come to our
ancestral domains to steal the peace and development that we have. They destroy
our families, they destroy our cultures, and they destroy the future of our
next generation," said Datu Panuliman James Binayao from
the Manobo-Talaandig Tribe of Maramag, Bukidnon.
During the side event, Secretary Allen Capuyan, NCIP chairperson,
said the government assured to continue to support IP communities.
"The world deserves to
know the truth. The Philippine government is a promoter, protector, and
fulfiller of the rights of every Filipino citizen, especially it's indigenous
peoples' brothers and sisters, and it does so guided by a clear normative
framework on indigenous peoples rights," he said, as he scored
the "lies and deception" painted against the government..
Meanwhile, Capuyan also noted that the functioning NCIP in itself
reflects government commitment to the IPs presented policies and programs
crafted by the Philippines that seek to further protect the rights of the IP.
"The state-led
indigenous people's participation framework sustains the active involvement of
indigenous peoples in government decision-making, especially in self and
community development," he said.
Moreover, Some IP leaders went to the United Nations Headquarters
in New York City. Last July, to appeal for an investigation into the attacks
committed by the CPP-NPA and urged them to help end the escalating violence
fueled by the communist armed conflict in the country.
Representatives of the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR) has promised that they
are “fully committed” to look into the plea.
President Rodrigo Duterte has formed a national task force to work
out a mechanism to help end the decades-old communist insurgency.
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict
(NTF-ELCAC), which is contained in Executive Order 70, seeks to
institutionalize a “whole-of-nation approach” in attaining an inclusive and
sustainable peace.
The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United
States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand,
and the Philippines.
Source: PNA
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