Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on April 15th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

Mr. Sweet, please.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

I'll be as brief as I can, although we could go on with questioning, with the big concerns there, for a long time.

The PNU, you said, was dominated by the Kikuyu. What is the percentage of population of that tribe?

[Firoze Manji]

The PNU is not dominated by the Kikuyu. Its leadership is certainly largely comprised of members of the Kikuyu tribe.

The Kikuyu constitute only 23% of Kenya's population.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

So only 23%.

I have two questions. First, you had mentioned that the modus operandi was to incite a tribal war. Are you inferring that this is strictly for their cover, so that they retain power in government? I'm trying to think of what the motivation of just trying to incite that would be.

Secondly, as far as the elections are concerned, you had mentioned that they were peaceful and well run. Can you steer me toward some specific evidence that we can get our hands on as to how it was rigged, other than the impossible math that you already mentioned?

[Firoze Manji]

First of all, I think an inquiry would need to be held to be able to work out exactly the motives of those who were involved in the incitement, but there is no doubt that armed groups of militia do target particular constituencies of people to get rid of them, to get them out of a particular area.

This is surmise, but I think the motivation is that these are often areas where there is a shortage of land and there's access to quite remunerative land. If a member of parliament or a politician can offer his constituencies greater access to the goods, it's quite a strong incentive for them to support them in the future. That's number one.

The elections were remarkably peaceful. I recommend to the committee the report from the European Union observer mission, as well as the post-election analysis made by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, both of which are available on their respective websites.

If one looks at the events, on the 27th of December the elections took place. They were closed that evening. At every single constituency, at every one of the 70,000 polling stations, there were people from all parties there. Each of them signed off the results. Each of them maintained and kept records of that. Even the police kept records of how the voting took place, what the final results at the constituency level were. They were then transmitted by fax or other means to the Electoral Commission of Kenya at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi.

By the 29th of December, no results had been announced. There were rumours that something was going on. These rumours were confirmed when the government service unit, the paramilitary force that reports only to the president, took over that part of Nairobi, emptied the building, completely excluded all international observers, and excluded all members of opposition parties who were there and who had a right to be observers at the Electoral Commission. Having done that, the chair then went on television to announce that Mwai Kibaki had won the elections.

There was deep suspicion that something had gone wrong. This suspicion was confirmed 24 hours later when a parliamentary officer, who was seconded to the Electoral Commission, stood up at a press conference, on television, and said that the results announced by the chair of the Electoral Commission of Kenya were not consistent with the results actually obtained.

Twenty-four hours later, four commissioners of the actual commission, all of whom had been appointed by Mwai Kibaki, also stood up courageously and at a press conference announced that these results were being rigged, that they were not the correct results that had been announced.

Since then, Mr. Kivuitu, who is the chair of the Electoral Commission, also admitted that what he had actually announced was not consistent with the results that were given.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Mr. Manji, we appreciate your coming here. We do apologize for the limited time we've had to hear from you. Thank you for enlightening us.

[Firoze Manji]

Thank you very much for your time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

I would like now to encourage our next panel of witnesses to please come forward.

We apologize to our witnesses from the Philippines for the fact that we are running late. We didn't get access to the room until a little later than we anticipated. What I am intending to do is to have the meeting run a little bit past the time at which we had intended to wrap things up, so that instead of concluding at 2 p.m., we will conclude at 2:10 p.m. That will still give our members time, if they run, to go to the House of Commons, but it will also allow a decent amount of time for your presentation.

This panel has exactly 30 minutes at its disposal. In order to ensure there is time for one round of questions from each of the parties, my suggestion is that you attempt to keep your presentation to 20 minutes. That will allow 10 minutes for questions and answers, and this time I'll be much more strict than I was the first time around in enforcing tight time limits for the questions and answers.

With that preamble out of the way, I welcome our panellists and invite them to begin their presentation.

[Satur Ocampo, Member, Congress of the Philippines]

Honourable Chairman and members of the subcommittee on human rights, good afternoon.

We members of the Philippine House of Representatives appear before you to seek your help in urging the Canadian government to put more pressure on the Philippine government to end the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in our country.

We appear before the committee both as representatives of the victims and as victims ourselves of political persecution and human rights violations by the Arroyo government.

In the seven years that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has held power, there have been almost 900 extrajudicial killings and 180 enforced disappearances. Of the 900 killed, 226 were members of the three political parties we lead and represent in Congress. We, the elected representatives, have been charged with spurious crimes such as rebellion, which have been justly ordered dismissed by the Supreme Court. Other charges, however, are still pending in the lower courts.

The victims of extrajudicial killings are renowned activists who include workers, peasants, students, women, indigenous people, the working poor, and journalists.

Two fact-finding reports were submitted to both the Philippine government and to the United Nations. Both reports make recommendations to the government on ways to put an end to the killings; however, none of the recommendations have been implemented by the Arroyo government.

The more definitive report is by the UN-commissioned special rapporteur, Philip Alston. The report directly attributes the killings and human rights violations to the armed forces of the Philippines and its counter-insurgency program called Oplan Bantay Laya, or “operation freedom watch”. Professor Alston recommends the removal of extrajudicial executions as a component of this program.

President Arroyo is at the top of the program. Last year she ordered the full implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya by 2010, when her term of office ends. The counter-insurgency program implements the military aspect of a national internal security plan, or ISP, also approved by the president. This plan combines military campaigns to secure peace in conflict zones with poverty reduction and developmental objectives. It is worth noting that CIDA funds these building efforts in the conflict-affected Mindanao.

The Arroyo administration has stubbornly refused to assume accountability and act decisively to end the political killings and penalize those directly responsible. This is why it is important for us to ask for Canada's support to follow the lead of the European Union by taking definitive action toward inducing the Philippine government to end the killings.

I'll ask my colleague to provide his testimony.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

[Crispin Beltran, Member, Congress of the Philippines]

Thank you very much.

I represent Anakpawis, the worker and peasant party-list in the Philippines Congress, a party that is being targeted in the current state of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in our country.

Trade union repression resulted in the extrajudicial killings of 87 union leaders and members; 29 were tortured; and a number of our members have disappeared. There has been a total of 1,272 cases of labour rights violations, including systematic “no union, no strike” policies, union busting, violent dispersals, and illegal dismissal of striking union members.

I myself was a victim of trumped-up charges of rebellion. I spent 16 months in prison immediately after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of national emergency in 2006. I was released after the Supreme Court of the Philippines dismissed the rebellion charges against me. However, the sedition charges against me are not withdrawn, and my colleagues in Anakpawis continue to be targeted.

We are here to appeal for your support and intervention. Canada provides support to the Philippines military and police training. This summer, Canada will be training 12 mid-level officers of the Philippines military here.

Canada provides development aid to the Philippines at about $14 million a year, making it the eighth-largest official development assistance contributor to the country. About 60% of CIDA funds go to projects in Mindanao, where a Muslim insurgency has been active for the past few decades. We have good reason to believe that Canadian funds are used in internal security campaigns of the Arroyo government, such as the national internal security plan. We would like this committee to look into this and ensure that Canada is not complicit in, or contributing to, the violations of Filipino people's rights.

Last year the Philippines government enacted the Human Security Act. The Arroyo government continues to use the war on terror as a means to silence dissent, turning legitimate acts of protest into crimes punishable by 40-year sentences.

International civil society groups and governments are holding the Arroyo government accountable and demanding an end to extrajudicial killing. The European Union, the governments of Finland, Spain, France, and Japan, have all issued statements of concern or outright condemnation. We ask you to take a firm and principled position against the human rights violations of the people of the Philippines.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

[Luzviminda C. Ilagan, Member, Congress of the Philippines]

Good afternoon.

Since Arroyo assumed power, 98 women have been killed for political reasons, with 30 abducted and 24 detained. My party, the Gabriela Women's Party, is a key target of the political repression. The president of Gabriela has been charged with rebellion and was forced to seek the protective custody of Congress for two months. She still faces charges of multiple murder. I am charged with rebellion and recently survived a bombing incident at the House of Congress that killed six people, including my driver. The bombing occurred on the day that my party and other opposition parties filed an impeachment case against President Arroyo.

I come from Mindanao, an island rich in natural resources and where Canadian mining companies are very active. Canada has filed major mining projects in the Philippines worth about $1 billion in investments, and many more companies are engaged in exploration.

I ask the subcommittee to look into the link between the activities of Canadian mining companies in the Philippines and the human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings. Eighteen women involved in community protests against large-scale mining have been assassinated.

In the Philippines, militarization is the evil twin of development projects such as mining. Even as we meet here today, military troops have been deployed to an indigenous community in northern Philippines and are terrorizing residents who opposed the mine project of Toronto-based Olympus Pacific Minerals.

Conducted under the guise of counter-insurgency, the military operation secures the area and allows the mining operations to proceed. Individuals and organizations opposing the mines are labelled by the military as members of the rebel New People's Army and enemies of the state, making them legitimate targets of attack.

I will now ask the leader of our delegation, representative Satur Ocampo, to present our recommendations to the subcommittee.

Thank you.

[Satur Ocampo]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

On behalf of our delegation and the communities that we represent, we submit the following recommendations to the subcommittee.

First, we call on the Prime Minister to issue a strong and clear public statement condemning the extrajudicial killings and calling on the Philippine government to implement the recommendations of the report of the United Nations special rapporteur Philip Alston.

Second, we ask the Canadian government to disclose information and conduct a review of Canada's support for counterterrorism capacity-building, military and police training, and CIDA programs to ensure that they are not a component of the internal security plan and contributing to human rights abuses. We ask that funding for these programs be suspended until the review is completed.

Third, we call on the Canadian government to investigate the complaints against Canadian mining companies in the Philippines, and to enact legislation to make it possible for Canadian companies to be prosecuted in Canada for human rights violations committed overseas.

Fourth and finally, we invite the subcommittee to visit the Philippines for a fact-finding mission on the human rights situation, including the extrajudicial killings and the human rights complaints against Canadian mining companies.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

I thank all our witnesses today for an informative discussion. I know you've made a real effort to be succinct in your remarks. I would encourage our committee members to be equally succinct in their questions.

We'll start the round of questioning with the Liberals.

Mr. Silva.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank all the witnesses who are before this committee. I just want to let you know that, first of all, even though the time is quite brief that you're before the committee, everything you're saying is also being recorded and registered, so we've taken note. In addition to that, the documents before us are quite comprehensive.

Professor Alston is somebody I have great admiration for. He is a world-known professor on human rights, a great academic, and somebody who has been with the UN also for a very long time as a rapporteur, so the fact that he's been assigned this is because there's an urgent need to gather information, do a fact-finding, and also do a proper report. He is the ideal candidate because of his world knowledge in terms of human rights.

It's very shocking what we read in the report, both Professor Alston's report and also Judge Jose Melo's report, on the military intervention and the military violations that are taking place in that country. We as a country, I think, have to speak out and say that this is outrageous, that a country that purports to be democratic has to also respect its democratic institutions, freedom of association, and labour rights. Right now what we've been hearing from these major reports of two very respectable people is very disturbing.

So I think you're right that it needs to come before our committee. We need to give it due attention, and we as a committee certainly will take forward your recommendations specifically about Canada, because we have involvement through CIDA, through our military training, through our partners, and also through our mining companies because we have interests there too.

Given all that, we do have a stake in this and I think there is also the fact that we care about the Philippines and the development in the Philippines. We have seen over the years that there's a huge community of Philippine-Canadians in Canada, and we recognize the fact of the urgent need for us to take action.

So we thank you very much for coming forward to the committee. I just wanted to make that comment. But I hear your recommendations and I appreciate them, and I've taken note of them.

[Satur Ocampo]

Thank you, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

No further comments?

In that case, let's go on.

Madame Bourgeois.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I have two questions and a comment.

Is the Mindanao mine that you were talking about TVI Pacific?

[Luzviminda C. Ilagan]

Yes, TVI Pacific and Crew Development are in Mindanao.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Very good. Thank you.

My second question is for Mr. Beltran.

Unless I misunderstood, you seemed to be saying that Canada provides support to the military forces in the Philippines. Is that right?

[Crispin Beltran]

Yes.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

I'm wrong or I'm right?

[Crispin Beltran]

You are right.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

I had understood correctly. There is also the International Labour Organization which we met with at another committee meeting, where we were talking about helping the people of Burma. It seems that the ILO, because of its position, has excellent contacts with various governments. I would simply like to suggest that you contact that organization.

Mr. Chairman, I will now make a comment. The activities of Canadian mining companies in the Philippines and the situation of the Philippine people was examined in a study by the Subcommittee on Human Rights, which I was on along with Mr. Goldring and a number of others about two and a half years ago. We did an excellent report on the activities of Canadian mining companies in the Philippines, in particular TVI Pacific from Alberta.

I am very surprised to see that, despite the subcommittee's report two and a half years ago, the situation has not yet been resolved. I would like the subcommittee to be able to discuss what follow-up there has been by the Government of Canada to that report and what support it is providing to the Philippine military. The Conservative government had just been elected at that time. It is a terrible situation and it is not the first time that we are discussing it here. I hope that Canada will not lose face once again. I actually find this shocking, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much.