10/12/2021
International Human Rights Day!
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Uphold Students and People’s Right and Welfare!
UP Baguio University Student Council
Official Statement | December 10, 2021
December 10 marks the annual celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) through the International Human Rights Day. The United Nations declaration is a major achievement in the progressive measures to secure universal standards in the treatment of all people in all nations. It recognizes our inalienable right as human beings to live a life of dignity and worth; protected from abuse, neglect, and isolation. It embodies the key values of respect, equality, fairness, and humanity.
However, violations of these rights still manifest within our society --- and we are seeing it now particularly with the censorship of our freedom of thought. Books wrongly labeled as “subversive” are being removed from libraries, many anti-democratic policies remain in educational institutions, and campuses as zones of peace are jeopardized by the pervasion of state force. Students have long been victims and targets of these human rights violations, perpetuating a cycle of oppression by the government against exercises of free speech. This demonstrates the government’s inclination to treat these rights as being more declarative than legislative and more suggestive than legally binding.
It is evident that amidst the pandemic, the burden of online learning alongside continuous fascist attacks prove that this set-up has trampled on our rights and welfare.. We must neither tolerate nor excuse this insult against our basic fundamental right as human beings. What distresses us more is the fact that while we face the struggle of this learning set-up, students are also being victimized by state-enforced attacks, through red-tagging. These baseless claims and false accusations not only jeopardize our safety but are also proof of the government’s blatant disregard for our democratic rights.
The employment of distance learning in the context of a pandemic further proves that online learning, let alone the current system of education, is one that is inaccessible, and education cannot be further from being a right enjoyed by all. It has compromised the quality of education, as well as the students, teachers, and staff’s mental and physical health. While government authorities prioritize the seizing of “subversive” materials, conduct red-tagging forums, authorize budget cuts, and force themselves inside educational institutions, more and more of the youth suffer under the inadequate learning conditions that the government refuses to remedy. The ramifications of which are students that literally work themselves to death for a state that refuses to acknowledge nor care for their woes.
The prioritization of militaristic rather than concrete and scientific solutions to address this pandemic is nothing but a manifestation of the government’s lack of urgency to heed the people’s calls and demands. Many of our efforts throughout the pandemic have been demonized, when the point of such efforts were to help our fellow Filipinos due to lack of aid being given by the national government. A draconian and heavy-handed approach only demonstrates the government’s constant obsession with exertion of power over all facets of society, especially the educational sector. We deserve a more responsible administration that empathizes with the concerns of its citizens, instead of one that focuses on its own self-aggrandizing quest for ever-increasing control.
With the passing of Anti-Terror Law and the unilateral abrogation of UP-DND Accord, it is evident that the reactionary state will maximize its hegemony to silence the youth and continue its exploitation of authority on any that choose to oppose it. The UP-DND agreement contains rigorous guidelines on the issuing of search and arrest warrants against, and detention of, UP students, teachers, and workers, and clearly bans law enforcement officers from interfering with peaceful opposition actions by UP constituents on university grounds.
One student left behind is one too many. Therefore, while we celebrate the International Human Rights Day and remember the successes of long-standing efforts to advance the human rights agenda, we continue to amplify the unwavering appeal for a free, quality, and accessible education. We again reiterate our demand for proactive, scientific, and pro-people strategies for the safe reopening of schools. In this regard, we implore every constituent to join the chorus of voices calling for the institutionalization of the UP-DND Accord. Not only will this protect every scholar's right to academic freedom, but it will also protect them from unjustified state-perpetrated attacks.
On this International Human Rights Day, the UPB University Student Council joins the broad masses in opposing fascism and tyranny. Together, let us assert our democratic rights and welfare by any means necessary.
Caption by: Franz Beltran, Piah Esteves, Eugene Enciso, Kyle Adeva
Layout by: Ralph Tumaneng