14/02/2021
"Myanmar: Arrests Mount as Protests Expand"
(Hundreds Detained Include Officials, Civil Servants, Doctors)
(Bangkok) – Myanmar’s military junta should immediately drop all charges and unconditionally release all those arbitrarily arrested since the military seized power on February 1, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. Detainees include political leaders, government officials, civil servants, activists, student leaders, and doctors, as well as anti-coup protesters.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPP) reported on February 12 that at least 326 people had been arrested since the coup, with 303 still detained, although the number may be much higher. The vast majority of detainees are being held without charge.
“The Myanmar junta’s dragnet is rapidly expanding, so international pressure is urgently needed to gain the detainees’ immediate release,” said Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher. “The military is back to its old game of targeted arrests and arbitrary detentions in an attempt to instill widespread fear.”
On the night of February 10, the military-installed State Administration Council (SAC) accelerated arrests by taking into custody at least 23 chairmen and members of the Union Election Commission from all 14 regions and states. The military had sought to justify its takeover by making baseless allegations of voting irregularities in the November 2020 election.
The AAPP said that the police arrested a National League for Democracy (NLD) legal adviser, Kyaw Hoe, and the chief minister of the Shan State government, Dr. Linn Htut, without charges. The authorities also arrested Hla Thein, the Union Election Commission chairman, on the first day of the coup, when they detained the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and President Win Myint.
"Duterte Should Leave Alone Philippines TV Network"
(President Says He’ll Block ABS-CBN Even with New Franchise)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared this week that he would not recognize any new license granted by Congress to ABS-CBN, the major television network that the government forced off the air in July 2020. Duterte repeated his claim – already debunked – that the broadcaster, one of the Philippines’ largest, owed back taxes.
Duterte said he would tell the National Telecommunications Commission, which regulates the broadcast industry, not to give ABS-CBN a permit to operate even if it gets a new congressional franchise that some legislators are pushing for in the House of Representatives.
In December 2019, Duterte had unilaterally declared “your franchise will end next year” – referring to ABS-CBN’s license, which needed renewal by March 2020. The network, then the most watched and influential broadcaster in the country, had earned the Duterte’s ire for its reporting on human rights abuses related to the administration’s murderous “war on drugs.” The president also accused the network of being biased in favor of his political opponents.
Duterte’s tirade is just his latest attempt to violate press freedom in the Philippines, particularly at a time when calls for accountability for the numerous human rights violations committed by his government are mounting. His administration has sought to intimidate Rappler, the online news website, and filed cases against its founding editor and chief executive Maria Ressa, who has been arrested many times and faces multiple court cases. The military and the police, aided by swarms of pro-government trolls on social media, have likewise harassed journalists, accusing them of supporting the communist insurgency. Some journalists have been arrested as part of this campaign, and a few have lost their lives to unidentified gunmen.
Although the president holds the authority to veto congressional franchises, Duterte should not be able to wield it in violation of international law. His latest threat against ABS-CBN is yet another blow to media freedom in the Philippines, which has long had a vibrant press. He should stop his assault on the media and instruct those attacking journalists to stand down.
"Philippines: ‘Drug War’ Killings Rise During Pandemic"
(Upsurge in Attacks on Activists, Community Leaders, Rights Defenders)
(Manila, January 13, 2021) – The Philippine government’s “drug war” killings intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, as did unnecessary arrests during lockdowns, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2021. Attacks by the police, military, and unidentified gunmen on leftist activists, community and Indigenous leaders, human rights defenders, and journalists also increased during the year.
“The Duterte administration appeared to take advantage of Covid-19 curfews in 2020 to expand its gruesome and bloody ‘war on drugs,’” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “At the same time, government ‘red-baiting’ of leftist activists, rights defenders, and others have put them at greater risk of deadly attack.”
In the 761-page World Report 2021, its 31st edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth argues that the incoming United States administration should embed respect for human rights in its domestic and foreign policy, in a way that is more likely to survive future US administrations that might be less committed to human rights. Roth emphasizes that even as the Trump administration mostly abandoned the protection of human rights, other governments stepped forward to champion rights. The Biden administration should seek to join, not supplant, this new collective effort.
The rights situation in the Philippines worsened during the pandemic, as the government imposed strict lockdown measures that resulted in the arrest and incarceration of tens of thousands of Filipinos, in conditions that greatly increased their health risk. In the early days of the lockdown, police subjected curfew violators – including children – to abusive treatment.
“Drug war” killings in the Philippines in 2020 increased by more than 50 percent during the early months of the pandemic. The police reported in November that since Rodrigo Duterte became president, nearly 8,000 alleged drug suspects had been killed during police operations. In June, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights validated many of these killings. Domestic human rights groups and the governmental Commission on Human Rights believe the actual toll is triple that figure.
Philippine rights monitors reported in 2020 that more than 160 political activists had been killed since Duterte became president in 2016. A number of the victims had earlier been “red-tagged” or red-baited by the Philippine military, the police, and local anti-communist groups. Among those targeted for “red-tagging” were celebrities who expressed support for groups that the government accused of having communist links.
The media also came under renewed attack. In June, a court convicted Maria Ressa, prominent head of the news website Rappler, on politically motivated charges of cyber libel stemming from Rappler’s persistent reporting on the “drug war.” In July, the Duterte-controlled Philippine Congress voted not to extend the franchise of ABS-CBN, the country’s largest television network, which had often criticized the government’s “drug war,” forcing the network’s closure.
