Mr. Speaker, since 2001, the state of human rights in the Philippines has seriously deteriorated. Amnesty International's Melo report, dated August 15, 2006, and the preliminary conclusions of the UN special rapporteur on the extrajudicial executions unanimously denounced the systematic political assassinations taking place in the Philippines, and emphasized that Gloria Arroyo's government failed to conduct effective, impartial investigations and to punish the perpetrators of those political assassinations. The majority of the victims have been journalists, lawyers, union leaders, peasants, aboriginals, and human and religious rights activists.
The Government of Canada, which gives aid to the Philippines, should be pressuring Ms. Arroyo's government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation, to stop the political assassinations and the impunity, so that democratic elections worthy of the name can be held in May 2007.